


Insanity Sides!

by Vampirtulpe



Series: Insanity Sides [4]
Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Eye Horror, Insanity, M/M, Multi, Obsession, Suicide, Torture, Violence, falling, other tags will be added, posession, rating will make sense later on, small spaces
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-03-11 11:58:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13523787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampirtulpe/pseuds/Vampirtulpe
Summary: A collection of One-Shots about my Insanity Sides AU. Some one-shots add up, some stand completely on their own.





	1. The Rainbow in a bottle

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to another one-shot called "Rainbow-Philosophy". Just so you know, but you don't need to read the story to understand this one.

There he was, sitting in his laboratory with six bottles of different coloured liquids in front of him, their destiny depended on Logan and Logan only. The rainbow was almost finished, but he didn’t feel like completing it anymore. He felt something strange within his beating, black heart and he didn’t like it a single bit

. It stung and forced white tears out of his eyes, along with the overflowing insanity and filled him with utter confusion, the logical trait unable to process the feeling he experienced right now. He actually didn’t want to finish the rainbow, the literal reason why he strapped Roman, Virgil and Patton on tables and forced their entire energy out of their body.

He already mixed the needed colours, red, orange, yellow, green, light-blue and purple were right in front of him, ready to become the rainbow but this stinging feeling in his chest stopped him from finishing the job. He finally recognized the feeling, the emotions only worsening once realization hit him. Regret. He was feeling regret. 

He actually regretted, that he hurt Patton, Roman and Virgil like this, even though his mind knew that they would come back and forget this entire incident. Logan choked on a sob and wiped at his eyes, eyeing the white liquid on them that was flowing along with the insanity, actually deleting the black sludge like it was the solution. Those weren’t tears as Logan first thought, it was his true personality shining through, pure thoughts, good emotions, fused to some white liquid, trying to banish the insanity and get the actual Logan back.

"wHat ArE yoU Up tO?“ Logan’s eyes moved at the glitchy voice, the logical trait turning around as they appeared through the floor, leaving a pond of insanity in the process. "You are late.” Insanity rolled with their non-existens pupils and spotted the bottles on the table, excitement bubbling up in them. “YoU goT ThE coLoUrS! ExCelleNt! Let’S fiNisH ThE RaInBoW!" 

Logan bit his lip, his gaze shifting to the side, unable to look at the intruding side anymore, before he finally forced the words out of his lips, a white liquid flowing out of them. "No." 

Insanity’s eyes widened, a shocked tone in their voice: "ExCuSE mE?!” Logan glared at insanity, adding:

"Yes, excuse you! I killed my family for those six bottles! And even if they come back, it’s still completely unethic and utterly disgusting to do something like this!“ Insanity claimed their spot at Logan’s side putting their claws on his shoulders and explaining:

"ThOSE ArE siMplE DoUbts. TrUSt me, yOU wiLl UndERstAnd tHe tRuE meAnInG oF EvEryThIng oNCe tHe rAinBoW iS DonE!” Logan narrowed his eyes, a new wave of doubt washing through him. Insanity DID promise it to him and it was a lifelong dream to finally understand everything in the world and the true meaning of everything.

Logan hissed quietly, before he turned around, facing the bottles again. If he started this he might as well finish the job or everything was n vain. “What do I have to do?” Insanity seemed to be pleased with this question, giving the logical trait a cleaver, explaining:

"A ColOuR iS StIll MiSSinG!“ Logan eyed the cleaver in his claw with a blank expression. It was stained with insanity and seemed sharp enough to pierce through the black sludge. He knew what Insanity meant by that and he actually peeled a bit of insanity off his wrist before he made a deep cut into the white flesh, a dark-blue liquid flowing out of it.

"Get a glass!” He instructed Insanity, who quickly glided to one of the shelves, picked a glass and hurried back, holding under Logan’s arms, filling said glass with the dark-blue liquid. It was almost finished, even though Logan’s hand twitched violently and his skin paled even more than usual, his mind fuzzy and far away.

He cut deep and he had to stop the bleeding once they had enough energy from the logical trait. This wasn’t nessecary though, because the insanity on his claw began to spread once they had enough colour, covering the wound and preventing any more blood from escaping anymore. Logan gasped, putting his claw down and holding his covered wrist in pain, glaring at Insanity who eyes the dark-blue liquid suspiciously before literally squealing in joy.

"YoU dID WelL! NoW puT ThEm toGetHer!“ Logan complied, putting the orange in the red, the yellow in the mix, continuing with green, before he put the light-blue liquid into the rainbow, went on with his own colour, dark-blue, and finished the job with violet, a rainbow now swirling in the biggest of all glasses, the colours blending in without mixing to some unrecognisable mush. It looked astounding and Logan couldn’t help but gape at this masterpiece. And this was, what the sides looked like if they put their minds together? 

This was brilliant. He eyed Insanity, who was also gaping, their long white hair messy and their whole body dripping with insanity. "What shall I do now?” Insanity had nothing resembling a mouth but it still seemed like they smiled as they explained: “DrInK iT.” Logan actually recoiled at the order, almost dropping the bottle in the process, staring in shock at the unwanted trait.

"I’M sorry?!“ Insanity rolled again with their empty white eyes and explained: "It WIlL oPeN yOUr MiND tO tHe tHinGS the OtHer SiDeS foCuSeD oN aND HElP yoU to UNDeRstAnD the TruE mEanInG of EveRYThInG!” Logan eyes the bottle, followed the flow of the rainbow and got lost in it’s colours and patterns.

He blinked, getting back into reality and contemplated for a while, before he shook his head quickly and put the edge of the bottle to his lips, drinking the whole rainbow in one chug, even though it was a big rainbow. Logan gasped and choked at the sensation, dropping the bottle which shattered with a loud clirring sound while Logan recoiled, falling on the floor, body tensing and relaxing, rolling around in agony as he groaned and choked screams escaped his throat.

"HoW Do YoU fEel?“ Asked Insanity, a surprisingly smug look in her face, while Logan tried to sit up, supporting himself with his claws and looking around, spotting the pond of insanity the actual Insanity left, and crawled towards it. "I feel… I feel.” Began Logan, his voice still a little bit choked and pained, until he reached the pond and opened his eyes one final time, no indicator of pain in his voice anymore as he saw the rainbows swirling in his eyes. 

“I feel complete.” Insanity was right. He finally understood the world and what it was turning around. Everything, absolutely everything, every living being, was about the rainbow. And he needed to make more.


	2. Suicidal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for Descriptions of Suicide and implied cannibalism in this one! If I missed something then tell me and i will add it.

Patton was practically bouncing with excitement at the time laying ahead of him. He was more than ecstatic to greet every new day with a big smile, the thread forcing him to smile anyway, so it didn’t really make a difference. But nontheless, he was in an even better mood than usually, even in his sane state he didn’t feel that joyful in a long time as he bounced arounnd in the mind place, splashing around in ponds of insanity.

The whole place was a mess, but no one bothered to clean it up, because the insanity would always come back anyway, so why waste time, patience and good mood to clean something that was welcome and would return anyway? It seemed even pointless for Logan. Speaking of the logical trait, he wasn’t the same as he used to be. Always talking about rainbows and kidnapping other sides like Sleep and Faith to get their colour to make new versions of the rainbow. He was still trying to find the perfect one and Logan’s eyes were starting to drip rainbow instead of insanity, it was really bad.

But no one cared enough to stop him. Roman and Patton both tried it in their own ways, while Virgil was way too afraid, since he joined their family only a few days ago and withdrawed even more in his room than usual. It was kinda sad, but he had always time to play with Patton. A new day, a new game, and Patton stuck with this promise, always thinking of a new game he could play with the anxious trait and finding great enjoyment in every one of them.

His favourite so far was the first game they ever played together, hide and seek, but that didn’t mean, that he couldn’t find a game he liked better than that. Quite the opposite actually, Patton was convinced, that he could find a better game, yet he remained unsuccessful. Maybe it would be more fun if the other sides joined them. Too bad that Logan and Roman were quite busy. Logan was currently trying to get the best colour out of Sleep while Roman tested how long someone can survive in the stomach of another person.

He is currently laying down due to a stomachache and as you can guess, you can’t survive that long and you especially can’t eat two people in one piece. Patton chose to not disturb Roman right now while Logan has an emotional high as he just drank another rainbow not too long ago AND was testing on Sleep. So he would stick with Virgil as of right now.

He just thought of a new game they could play together and had everything prepared, excitement causing his entire body to vibrate as he viewed the scene, the two poles they would be standing on and the frozen salt-water underneath them where they would fall down if they lost balance. Now the only thing Patton needed were two bats so they could poke each other off the poles. That would be fun! His sewed grin only widened as he thought about the screams and their twitching and shaking.

He created the bats and left his room, closing the door so no water would escape. He had everything prepared, the only other thing he needed was his partner, his Virgil waiting for his newest game. Patton strode to Virgil’s room, every step, every movement calculated and no energy wasted until he stood in front of the wooden door, memories of their round of hide and seek flashing inside of his mind. “Virgiiiil.”

Sang Patton, clearly in a good mood and he grabbed the handle and twisted it. “I have a new game, so come on out and…” He opened the door, face falling and words stopping as he saw a pair of bare feet and shins covered in baggy pants in the air, the rest of the body hidden in the darkness of the room. Patton dropped the two bats, staring at the dimly litten body hanging from the ceiling with widened eyes, barely spotting the noose responsible for the death of the only person, that would ever hang in this room, in every sense of the word, and not just the actual meaning.

Patton fully opened the door , the light of the floor finally illuminating Virgil hanging from his ceiling, his eyes closed but threatening to pop out of his head, his neck grotesquely deformed. Patton’s hands trembled, his lip quivered while his smile remained as wide as ever, the actual situation being too much to process for the emotional trait. It wasn’t even anything new! Virgil tended tro commit suicide, but every time Patton found him it ended the same way.

He slowly entered the room, stopping right in front of Virgil and sinking to his knees, wailing loudly while at the same time unable to stop his smiling. “Why, Virgil! Why every time?! WHY DO YOU DO THIS EVERY TIME! WHYYY?!” More and more tears streamed down Patton’s face, his entire body shaking, unable to even think about loosening the noose and getting Virgil from the ceiling.

It was far from the first time he commited suicide, it became his thing. While Patton tried to find new games and new way’s of amusing himself, Virgil tried his best to find the most effective way’s of suicide, each and every death unique, he didn’t repeat anything this far, but it was just a matter of time until he went out of new possibilities for suicide. Patton bit his lip, the thread giving him a hard time, causing him pain and even more emotional distress, as he was unable to frown and to properly cry, but the tears were forming anyway, so did it really matter?

Virgil wore his usual jacket, black baggy pants, no shoes, but his hair seemed fluffy, like he just left the shower and dried it properly, the only make-up on his face the eye-shadow he put normally on, still little remains of insanity on his face. Virgil showered a lot, trying every day to get rid of every bit of insanity on his body, still not allowing Insanity to corrupt the anxious trait completely. “WHY, VIRGIL! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS! WHY DIE LIKE THIS, WHY DIE IN SADNEEEEEEEESS!”


	3. Neverland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Implied suicide, Graphic description of violence and gore, falling , if I missed something tell me please.

To say Roman was in a good mood was an understatement you only made once. The creative trait practically strode through the mindspace, vibratring with excitement as his red eyes roamed around the place, looking around for the right sides he could cooperate with.

Roman felt actually pretty good in his current mental state, as he can now literally live out all of his new creative ideas, giving him a new sense of purpose and a new load of self-confidence. “Patton, the side I was looking for!” Purred Roman with a wide smile as he approached the emotional trait who looked despite the grin rather unamused, especially after seeing the creative trait. He was holding a big lump wrapped into a black cloth, also dripping with insanity, while Patton’s cheeks were flushed red, veins in his eyes despite the insanity visible. 

He legitimitly cried because of something and it caused Roman to raise his eyebrows at the sight. Especially after Patton barked: “What do you want Roman? I’m not in the mood right now. Virgil just killed himself.” Roman frowned, eyebrows scrunched together as he questioned: “Again?” The insanity flowing out of Patton’s eyes intensified as he showed the fanciful side the item he was actually carrying around, causing Roman to recoil slightly.

Patton slowly unwrapped the lump and tossed the cloth aside, revealing the severed head of the anxious trait, eyesockets big and round and most importantly without any eyes while blood was and insanity was flowing out of them like waterfalls. 

“How did this happen?” Asked Roman in a serious tone, eyeing the head of Virgil with widened eyes and a serious expression. Patton simply shook his head as he explained, a startdled expression crossing his features: “I’m not sure, there was no real indication of what killed him or how he severed his head.” He turned it a little in his hands and examined it thoroughly, like it was a valuable gem before finally shrugging: 

“I’m really not sure how he did it. Maybe you wanna figure it out?” The grin on Patton’s face was always a challenge, but Roman simply shook his head this time. “Sorry, but I am not interested today. I have an experiment I am in need of assistance of. Do you think you could help me?” Patton bit his grinning lip, looking at the creative trait for a while, before shaking his head. “Nope, sorry, but no can do, Romano! I wanna ask Logan to turn this…” He presented the head to Roman, holding it with one hand and like it was actually a bust, made of stone or marble and not flesh and bones. 

“Into a hand-puppet, what do you think?” Roman arched an eyebrow, eyeing the head again, before blowing a strand of hair out of his face and shook his head. “It will rot in less than a week. That isn’t worth it at all. Ask Logan to make a marionette of Virgil instead. Or maybe an actual doll, those things are pretty great.” He himself had his fair share of Voodoo-dolls and if he was lacking the creative idea he just needed he just used the puppets for his smaller ideas, quite pleased with his little companions Logan made for him.

They have actual beating hearts and can see through their little button-eyes and even speak a few words, because Logan made them a functioning heart out of rainbow. Roman loved those dolls and since they were unable to die they were perfect experiments for his small ideas before he tries them in bigger fashion. Patton grinned at the creative trait, answering nonchalantly: “We will see what Logan says. I will help you with your next experiment, all right?” Roman raised his eyebrows, an expectant look on his face as he raised his right claw.

"Promise?“ Patton rolled his eyes, sticking the head under his left arm and raised his right one to connect his pinky claw with Roman’s. "Promise.” Both of them nodded before they parted, Patton on his way to Logan while Roman was looking around for another side, until he found his perfect subject. He was small, young and naive, his rainbow-shirt was practically shining and his face was pure and innocent. 

“Faith! How are ya doing?” Asked Roman nonchalant as he leaned against the wall, the small trait grinning at him. “I’m doing great! It became a little easier to decide what to believe in. I gave up believing into the church, it just clashed with too many morals of ours.” Roman nodded, closing his eyes as he listened. “Yeah, that does make sense. You really know what you’re doing Faith.” The small side beamed in excitement, eyes as wide as his grin as he answered: “Thank you so much Roman!”

Faith did indeed notice the appearance change of the other sides, but he didn’t think too much about it. They changed their outside, but they were still the sanders sides, weren’t they? And he still trusted them, even though they behaved a little odd lately. “Faith, please grow never up.” The small trait looked up, spotting a melancholic spark flashing inside of his red eyes, Faith tilting his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?“ Roman knealt down as he looked at Faith, a promising look on his twisted face. "Let’s head off to Neverland, so we will never grow up, Faith.” The small trait was vibrating in excitementas he exclaimed: “You take me to your world?! That’s awesome! Let’s go!” Roman smiled, a strange expression he plastered onto his face, as he rose again, stroding towards his room, the only audible sound being the little steps of Faith pattering just behind him.

Roman opened the door to his room and Faith stepped inside, looking around with wide eyes as his room had quite changed from the last time he was in there. The walls were dripping insanity while the floor was covered in the black sludge, a big, open window resided on a wall, inviting them to sit on the windowshill and maybe enjoy the stars sparkling in the mind of Thomas Sanders. “Are you ready faith?” Asked Roman in a low voice.

The small trait was still looking around as he nodded, yelping in surprise as Roman suddenly grabbed him and carried him towards the window. “What are you doing?!” Screeched Faith as he tried to wriggle free, while Roman grinned, showing his stained teeth as he exclaimed: “OFF TO NEVERLAND!" 

And threw Faith out of the window. The small trait screamed his lungs out, Roman listening intently to the sound getting smaller and smaller, until it completely died down, only to rise up again and the small trait falling again. He would always fall and always cross the window again. Roman shook his head in disaproval, not happy about the fact that Faith was unable to fly. This experiment failed utterly and now he had to get rid of everything.

Faith wass still screeching as he saw the mind palace getting closer again. He closed his eyes for a moment, believing in himself and Thomas, before he opened them again and slowed his fall enough for him to grab onto the windowshill, prepared to hurl himself up but stopping as he spotted Roman grinning down at him, insanity dripping from his eyes. "R-Roman?” Faith was shaking, tears collecting in his eyes as Roman drew his sword. 

“You aren’t doing it right, Faith. You are supposed to BELIEVE!” He stabbed into Faiths wrist, pinning him onto the windowshill and making the small trait scream his lungs out as he wriggled and tried to get away from the pain. “I thought you were the best at believing, Faith!” Roman pulled his sword out and grabbed Faiths wrist, hurling him up but letting him dangle above the void, the small trait too weakened to do anything at this point. 

Roman slashed at Faiths wrist again, severing the hand completely as the small trait screamed, holding his stump now in pain as the hand fell into the void, only to be soon falling again, meeting the mindspace again. Roman grinned at Faith’s desperate face, explaining.

"You don’t need hands to believe, Let’s see how long it taked you until you reach neverland.“ 

He slashed Faith’s other wrist, the small trait falling again, his screaming turning into desperate crying as Roman dropped the hand he was still holding, cleaning his hand on his robes.

He climed down the windowshill and closed his room, ready to check everyday to see when Faith would finally reach Neverland, so he would never grow up. And he would be travelling for a long time…


	4. Purgatory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings about small spaces, if I missed anything please inform me! This story is based of a nightmare of mine.

Virgil steps were slow, sluggish, his entire body felt like a bag that was thrown under water. He was just so heavy and the walls were dripping, closing in on him, literally melting due to the insanity and Virgil couldn’t take it anymore. He saw Logan losing himself in the insanity and he almost couldn’t take that and if he didn’t do anything someone else might get corrupted. 

Virgil wiped his eyes, his breathing shallow and echoing across the floor, the insanity dripping from the ceiling and from the walls, causing ponds to form on the floor. The entire scene was closing in on Virgil and he practically felt his breath hitch and an invisible string tying his neck shut. 

He had to get away! Virgil waded through the floor, everything looked the same, it was simply too much! Where has the individuality gone to? Even the door to Virgils room was dripping with insanity, no way was he going to go in there to hide from the black sludge. He continued to walk, the pounding in his head loud and painful and almost causing him to fall down and never get up ever again. He had to stay calm and maybe, just maybe was he going to escape. 

Like hell. You couldn’t escape the mindscape and the plague completely destroyed them, they had never a chance to begin with. Virgil wiped at his eyes again as he remembered how Logan lost his mind, everything he ever was and wanted to be, to the insanity and is now nothing more than a shadow of himself, a literal insane scientist, obsessed with the rainbow of perfection, of completion, of the one thing every breathing creature in this world turned around. 

Virgil looked up, eyes widening as he spotted a completely clean door, no insanity whatsoever. The anxious trait started to sprint as the floor practically melted under his feet, barely able to grab and turn the knob and hurl himself inside, panting on the ground, trying to calm his racing heart down and failing miserably. Virgil curled up on the floor, eyes sealed shut as he tried to focus on his breathing to calm his trembling body down. Calm down, count to ten, take a deep breath, hold that breath, breath out.

Simple as that. Just repeat that and you will be fine, Patton is not here to comfort you this time, Roman is not here to help you this time, Logan will never again be there to help you in any situation. Virgil curled a little tighter around himself at the memory, he actually choked back a sob but stopped as he heard a weak voice calling: 

“Hello? Is somebody there?” The voice was frail, like a dry twig that would snap if you look at it the wrong way, and so quiet it might have been just a breeze calling out to you before it was gone again. But Virgil heard it and he moved his head around, finally recognizing where he was. Patton’s room. The nostalgic paradise, completely free of any insanity. Still pure. But if that was Patton’s room, who was calling out to him? Virgil jumped to his feet, frantically looking around before calling:

"Hello?!“ A weak cough came as a reply and Virgilo spotted a bed at the end of the room, quickly hurrying towards it, heart sinking at the sight before him. It was Patton. But he looked like hell, purple hair sweaty and without any gleam, eyes lost all life with his glasses broken and on the nightstand. His face was pale and a few unhealthy wrinkles made his way on his face, making him look even older and more frail. Virgil’s eyes widened as he hurled himself over to the bed and knelt down, immediatly taking Patton’s pale and sweaty hand, the emotional trait lacking the power to give Virgil a light squeeze. 

"Patton, what happened?!” Patton coughed weakly, eyes focusing on a point behind Virgil as he explained in his raspy voice: “Logan… Virus… I’m… Sick and… will… die.” His voice cracked at the end of his sentece as tears filled his eyes and Virgil also felt tears sliding down his cheeks. Patton was going to die? No… he was his father, he couldn’t die just yet! Virgil sobbed as he put Patton’s hand on Virgil’s cheek, feeling every inch of the leathery skin and inhaling the smell of Patton and sickness and a bit of sweat.

Virgil bit his lip as he sat up, looking down at Patton with teary yet determinded eyes. “Be right back, I gotta find Logan!” Patton only nodded weakly as he closed his eyes and leaned back into his Pillow, sighing softly into the cool fabric while Virgil left the pure room and looked frantically around. Which of these stained rooms was Logan’s, he had to remember! Virgil screwed his eyes shut, playing memories of his family in his head, crying again at the happy times never returning, before the memory of the right room flashed in his mind. 

He turned around, running down the floor and coming to a screeching halt in front of a stained door, quickly opening it and revealing Logan in a lab coat, stained with insanity, rainbows swirling in his eyes and dripping out of them, two glasses in his black claws. He looked a little surprised but not enough to mark him as shocked, because he grinned shortly afterwards. “Virgil, what gives me the honor? Care to give me a little more light-blue?” Virgil scrunched his eyebrows together, confused as to what Logan was talking about but he quickly shook his head, explaining.

"Patton is sick! I need an antidote! You have one, right?!“ Logan continued to grin, revealing his sharp fangs in the dimly litten laboratory, a mocking look on his face. "I might have, but what are you going to offer me for it?” Virgil was beyond frustrated, tearing at his hairr and letting out a hearty scream of despair, before he exclaimed: “EVERYTHING!” Logan’s eyes widened slighty, his interest awoken as he explained: “All right, here is the deal. I will give you the antidote if I am allowed to shrink you for an experiment. Is that a deal?” Could he live with being tiny for the rest of his existence? 

He could, if he could live with Patton a tiny existence, so he quickly nodded. Logan gave him a little glass with some particles flying in them and the next time Virgil blinked he was already shrunk to the size of a toy-soldier, staring up at Logan in shock who was simply gigantic compared to him now. “Make sure Patton inhales the particles. I will teleport you to his room.” Logan’s voice was booming loud and it caused Virgil’s ears to bleed, but it was worth it, if he could safe Patton. 

The next time he blinked he was back in Patton’s room, standing on his nightstand, the sick trait right beside him, the antidote literally in his hands! He unscrewed the glass and allowed the particles to fly towards Patton, the sick trait inhaling them and opening his eyes again. He already seemed better, which was a big relief for Virgil. Patton looked around in confusion, before he spotted Virgil on his nightstand, smiling fondly at him. “You saved me, Virgil. I can’t believe it.” He cupped his hands and held them out to Virgil, the anxious trait hopping in his hands and knealing down, looking joyfully up to Patton, who still smiled warmly at him. 

“Don’t worry, Virgil. This won’t change anything. I will take good care of you, I promise.” Virgil’s smile faltered as Patton’s smile widened to an unhealthy grin and as the ceiling slowly started to leak insanity, the black sludge dripping down and staining the ground. Virgil’s mouth widened in shock as he looked around, Patton’s eyes starting to leak insanity and his grin being sewed onto his face as he exclaimed. “Yeah, I will take good care of you. I already have the perfect spot for you.”

He moved a few steps into the room, right next to a fireplace, where he took a snowglobe, screwed it open and dropped Virgil inside, quickly shutting the lid and placing him back onto the fireplace. Virgil was shocked to the core, the globe was small and there was little to no air to properly panic and the sad music from the music box Patton placed next to him was not helpful at all. Patton stared into the globe with his twisted yellow eye as he exclaimed: “This is the perfect spot for you. You shall never leave this place again.”

And then he left. he left Virgil, trapped in a snow globe on the fireplace with a music box and a few other globes with skeletons inside of them. Virgil cried and pounded against the glass, but Patton never returned and Virgil never left his destined place. He shall be forever trapped in a snow globe on top of a fire place. That night was Virgil so afraid he didn’t go back to sleep , especially because he knows that what he saw might be the future.


	5. Dance Macabre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for torture in this one, if I missed anything please tell me. This is also a sequel to Neverland, but you don't need to read this one to undertstand. ^^

“Patton! The side I was looking for!” The emotional trait rolled with his eyes, for this is always the sentece Roman would use if he wanted Patton to do something for him. He really wasn’t in the mood for any of Roman’s experiments as of right now. 

“I’m quite busy Roman! I don’t have time for anything you are planning to do right now!” Patton wasn’t even lying on the matter, he really was busy, he just thought of a new game he could play with Logan, since Virgil is dead again, and was on his way to get the guns and knives.

It was actually a pretty awesome game , like russian Roulette. There were 8 probs and 2 real guns, one filled with bullets, the other with rainbow, but you could also pick one of the knives, one being a real blade and the others simple theatre knives. He was really ecstatic to play this and his mood quickly died down as he spotted Roman with this look on his face coming towards him. It was undescribable, but every time Roman wanted something from anyone he had this grin on his face. 

It was smug and joyful and expectant at the same time and he would stride through the whole mind-palace with this stupid grin until he found the right side to help him with his experiments. Said grin was wiped off the princes face as he heard Patton’s answer, pouting slighty as he argued: “But I have something I NEED to test out!” Patton rolled with his eyes, smatting the air with his claw as he answered: “Ask Faith or Sleep!” Roman licked his lips slighty as he avoided to look at Patton, eyes roaming around the floor instead. 

Faith was probably still travelling to Neverland, he couldn’t possibly ask him, it was simply impossible. “Faith is… busy.” Exclaimed Roman, grin back onto his face but quickly gone as he continued: “And Logan has Sleep. You know how long Dr. Rainbow sometimes needs.” Patton could only nod, aware of the fact that Logan was able to spent days in his laboratory with another side, not a rare occasion that the prisoner actually starved on his operating-table, to which Logan simply shrugged and moved on to another experiment. “Well, I’m busy too, just so you know! I gotta prepare a new game for today and don’t have time for any of your shenanigangs!" 

Patton brushed past Roman, who bit his lip, eyes narrowed, before he called: "You promised it!” Patton stopped mit-step, memories flooding his mind as he remembered the stupid pinky-swear he did with Roman. “Are you serious?!” Snarled Patton, whipping around and glaring at the fanciful side who had his pinky claw extended. “You promised it.” Repeated Roman in a calmer state, smiling slightly at the emotional trait, who sighed in defeat and walked back to Roman, hugging him while mumbling in his stained sash: “I love and hate you at the same time.”

Roman laughed quietly and quickly encircled Patton with his arms, hugging him tightly, whispering: “You wanna come to my room?” Patton knew he couldn’t get out of this one. Roman had another idea and Patton had to participate, so he just nodded in silent agreement and denial at the same time, as he allowed Roman to guide the emotional trait into his room, heart already sinking as he saw the free space in Romans room. There was far too much space for anything, all furniture was missing, the only thing in this room being a radio and a furnace. 

“What do you want me to do?” Asked Patton, a little nervous as Roman’s grin returned, maniac as ever. “Out of your shoes and socks and put this on!” He threw something in the air, which Patton caught with ease, staring at the fanciful dress with a critical eye. It was a blue dress, like Patton’s shirt with white intervals, longs sleeves and a slightly puffy skirt, the material only reaching Patton’s shins so he could still move freely around. “Why do you want me to put that on?” Asked Patton with a raised eyebrow, to which Roman just groaned and explained: 

“You play a woman this time! Just do it!” Patton hissed at Roman, before he dropped the dress and unknotted his stained Cardigan, stripping his shirt off and abandoning his khaki-pants on the floor, so he was simply standing in his boxers. He put the dress on, it was a little tight around the waist, but apart from that it fitted perfectly, and twirled a little on the spot, Roman blatantly staring at the whole process. He eyed every little part of Patton, before he nodded in satisfaction and licked his lips, his snake-like tongue darting out in the process. “You look fantastic Patton-Cake.”

"Don’t give me that. What am I supposed to do?“ Roman beckoned him closer, towards the furnace and Patton moved only reluctantly closer, yelping in surprise as Roman grabbed his ankles and hurled them up, causing Patton to fall head first on the ground, groaning in pain as he rubbed the back of his head. "What was that supposed to be?!” Hissed Patton. Roman simply grinned as he put Patton’s feet into the heated furnace, the emotional trait’s eyes widening in shock and horror, his mouth gaping open as he writhed around, trying to free himself from the pain.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!“ Screamed Patton in pain as he felt the skin peeling off his feet and revealing his sensitive muscles. Roman continued to grin as he held Patton in place. "The queen in Snow-White was forced to dance in hot iron-shoes till the end of her existence. I wanna see how long that actually was.” Roman let go and Patton immediatly secured his feet from the raging fire, surprised as he spotted iron in form of shoes securely around his feet but at the same time agonized, as the iron was still really hot and refused to cool down. Patton let a choked scream out as he tried to remove the iron, only to find that it wouldn’t budge.

"Start dancing Patton, you can do it.“ Patton had no choice. He stood up on shaking legs, pain rocking his entire body as the iron continued to burn his feet while Roman turned on the radio, a slow and melancholic music playing to suit the mood. Patton could do this. He could satisfie Roman. He chose to dance slowly, each of his moves careful, not a single bit of energy wasted as he moved around the empty room, the dress flowing around him and his face calm despite the burning pain eating him alive.

Roman stared, partly because of his experiment, but also partly because he forgot how calculated Patton could dance. He looked elegant and absolutely stunning, the fanciful trait unable to look away, enchanted by the emotional trait and his melancholic dancing. Patton twirled on the spot, the fabric of the dress fluttering around him and Roman’s mouth dropped open, his eyes watery as the music and the sight were too much for him.

He walked towards patton and grabbed his hands and waist with one claw, looking at him with with loving eyes. "Thank you for doing this to and for me.” Whispered Roman as he kissed Patton caringly, the emotional trait really wanting to enjoy it, but finding himself unable to, since he was barely able to stand as bubbles started to form at his feet, causing his eyes to sting and water. Patton whimpered, to which Roman stopped the kiss and started moving, Patton following him along.

It quickly turned into a full-fledged partner dance, the music somehow fitting in even more perfectly as it got a little more romantic and energized, the sides circling around the room until Patton got surrounded by black smoke, Roman making one final turn with Patton and stopping in the center of the room, eyes closed and a small smile on his face. 

“Thank you Patton.” He said as he dropped the skeleton he was now holding, the bones immediatly falling apart and leaving not a single trait of the side, that was dancing with Roman mere seconds ago. Despite the hot iron on the floor, that burned away the bone it was attached to.


	6. Sleeping Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Blood and Gore and Torture, I'm not joking, I think this one is rather serious!

It was dark, as much he was aware of, but he had no idea where he actually was or what actually was going on. He was unable to move, feeling straps holding him back and onto place He was still groggy, for he was still far away with his mind, because he was actually doing his job for once, only to fing himself in a predicament like this. 

„Hello?! Anybody here?“ Sleep called out into the darkness, concern not actually evident on his face or voice as he looked around with a critical eye. He eyed the drill right next to him and shifted slighty away, not a big fan of the stress this place caused him. He would be unable to go back to sleep again and Thomas could probably need the sleep, the rebellious trait wasn’t really sure, he hasn’t heard anything of Thomas for quite some time. If he cared enough he would actually check on him, but that was just way too much effort. 

Thomas was way to far away for him to actually move all the way to make sure he was alright. A shifting in the shadows caused Sleep to look up, scanning the darkness with a critical eye, before his interest faded again and he continued to examine the different deviced next to him. They kind of reminded him of a dentist, a foul taste spreading inside of his mouth as he thought of those guys, the rebellious trait spitting on the ground and shaking his head in disgust. „Would you please stop to mess my laboratory up?“

Sleep’s gaze shifted, finally seeing gleaming eyes in the endless darkness, rainbows swirling inside of them. Sleeps eyebrows scrunched together, thinking about the side who had rainbow-eyes again. It was Logan, right? Sleep always thought this was really unfitting since Roman was the one who always walked around full-rainbow. He thought the rainbow was totally not Logan’s colour, but that didn’t really matter right now. „Logan, what’s going on here?“

The logical trait finally left the shadows, revealing his lips curled up to a grin, showing his sharp fangs in the process, while he hid his claws behind his back. „I’m glad you’re finally awake, Sleep.“ Said Logan, smug look on his face falling as Sleep shrugged and answered: „It’s kinda my job to wake up eventually.“ „Enough of this nonsense!“ Barked Logan as he examined the rebellious trait rather long and thorough, before he asked, a growl in his low voice:

„How do you do it?“ Sleeps eyes widened in confusion, eyebrows scrunched together as he asked: „What are you talking about, dude? Why so vague? I thought we are all friends here?“ Logan actually screamed in frustration as he rammed his clenched claw through one of the stained walls, a hole now gaping in the wall with Logan’s fist still inside of it, the logical trait taking deep breaths. He forgot how… exhausting sleep could sometimes be, which should be logical, since it was his job. Logan felt like an idiot for forgetting something like this. 

He pulled his fist out and shook it a little, before he turned around and yelled at sleep: „You are completely pure. HOW DO YOU DO THIS?! HOW ARE YOU NOT CORRUPTED YET?!“ Sleep just stared at Logan as the logical trait prepared a particular sharp knife and scissors, also some pincers, the rebellious trait slowly starting to panic as he answered, his voice startled: „DUDE, I DON’T KNOW?! I just sleep! That’s all I do! I like to party and to not do my job, but it’s literally everything I do!“ Logan’s eyes widened as realization hit him like a bolt, the logical trait actually recoiling at the imagined sensation as he murmured to himself:

„Of course. How did I not think of that?“ He bared his teeth again, his voice rising in volume and frustration as he screamed: „HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THIS?!“ Sleep actually flinched as Logan suddenly screamed, quickly trying to reassure the logical trait since he seemed to be really dangerous right now and he wasn’t exactly in the best situation to upset anybody as of right now. „Dude, calm down! You are like, the smartest guy I know around here, all right smartie? Whatever you didn’t think of, I’m sure none of us thought of either!“ Logan gave sleep a look, confusion written all over his face.

What was with this guy? He irritated him to no end and pushed all of his buttons in the wrong way, but he somehow always knew how to use the right words. He was actually good company. Logan smiled slighty as he raised the knife and put it on sleeps stomach, slowly starting to cut the fabric of the shirt away. Sleep writhed uncomfortably as Logan started to use the sissors in reach of his guts and tried:

„What are you doing?“ Logan didn’t answer, his eyes were completely fixated on his work and he looked only up as the shirt was completely cut open and Sleep’s bare chest revealed. „What do you think I’m doing?“ Challenged Logan with a smile as he slowly rose the sissors and knife, presenting them to Sleep in a mocking way. The rebellious treat looked at the devices, his voice a little shaky as he answered: 

„A B-BBQ?“ Logan barked a laugh, throwing his head back, the irritating sound being reflected by the walls as he answered: „Nice try. Point’s for effort though.“ Logan placed the knife on Seeps stomach and made slow but little cuts, the mouth of Sleep dropping open as pain rocked through his body, unable to move as it became simply too much for him to handle. 

„Stop, what are you doing?!“ Logan was in the zone again, cutting at Sleep’s body, first the skin, then the muscle, blood slowly dripping down the black claws of the logical trait as he started to peel the skin and parts of the muscles away to reveal the actual organs of Sleep, the rebellious trait totally quiet, still numb from the pain just rocking through his body. He felt sick and vulnerable, not able to handle the weird sensation of wind blowing against his inner organ’s.

„You know.“ Started Logan, moving into the shadows but still visible enough to decipher. „You can get corrupted by more ways than one. There is Insanity, who corrupted me while I spread the plague, but I found another way. A little picking sound was heard and Logan actually murmured something to something or someone in the darkness: „Thank you, Tesla.“ He came back to Sleep, presenting a brown seed in his claws. 

„Insanity can also spread like a plant. For that I raised specific plants to make seeds of insanity. And I’m going to test it now.“ Sleep wanted to talk, but he found himself unable to, only able to groan as Logan placed the sead b between his stomach and heart, the claw stopping to feel the beating heart for a minute, only causing Sleep more pain. The seed immediatly started growing as vines encircled the stomach, squeezing it slightly and causing Sleep to cough and actually vomit black liquid on the ground.

„Dude…. what’s…. going….. on?!“ He could only say one word between waves of insanity he was vomiting up, while the seed was spreading, starting to encircle the heart, the black vines causing the heart to beat faster. The vines spread and soon were in the entire body, Logan watching the entire time and smiling slightly at the sucess as he saw black tears dripping out of Sleep’s eyes but frowning in slight confusion as his eyeballs were still white. Something went wrong, the seed was behaving odd. The vined twichted and shook, little buds growing out of the black vines, before shining black flowers were blooming, starting to flood the body with insanity.

„WHOA!“ Screamed Sleep before he practically vomited a waterfall up, the body expanding like a balloon that was filled with water as the vines actually replaced the missing skin and muscle, allowing no insanity to escape. Sleep cried something but it was incoherent as he was constantly vomiting and waterfalls of insanity dripped out of his eyes. One final scream later and all of Sleep’s mechanisms broke as the body literally explodes at the pressure, The laboratory and Logan getting hit by a gigantic wave of insanity, only little pieces left of the body that was sleep once. 

Logan stared at the leftovers with a critical eye, murmuring to himself: „This test failed, Tesla is still not the right plant. I need to change my plans. „He didn’t even clean up the mess as he vanished into the shadows again, the flower of insanity still blooming on the table Sleep was just strapped onto, where pieces of him where still strapped onto.


	7. Build our machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only warnings for descriptions of gore, but nothing too much. This is also analogical. And I listened to the song "build our machine" while writing this.

He had to escape, he didn’t know how for his movements were much more sluggish and slow than the other side’s, but he really didn’t want to talk to Patton right now. Virgil had an awful day He got into another fight with Insanity, who became way too smug for their own good, as they behaved like they were the first side to ever appeat and everything belonged to them, which was more than wrong. 

They were now in charge of everything as they have corrupted almost every side, but their leader was technically Patton as he was the very first side and took care of each and everyone, even Virgil in his unwanted days. But Patton would never ever mention these days again,. Everything he thought about now were these stupid games, and Virgil could honestly not take it anymore. It was simply too much to handle anymore.

Everyday came Patton to him with another torterous or murderous game he wanted to play and Virgil simply couldn’t take it anymore. He felt a bit bad, running away from Patton like that, because there were still the memories, haunting Virgil every day. Memories, where Insanity didn’t destroy his family, where they could cuddle up on the couch and watch Disney-Movies together, or where the sides actually respected his privacy and didn’t barge into his room, when he wanted to be alone. He felt tears flowing out of his eyes and Virgil quickly wiped them away He had to admit, he honestly missed his family, missing every single one of them.

Patton’s good heart was now dripping with insanity, Roman’s imagination branched out to unspeakable places as he was ready to kill each and every one of them without any remorse, while Logan drank the rainbow and immediatly became addicted to it, forced to make new rainbow every day. It ripped Virgil’s heart apart. He looked frantically around in the mind.palace, everything starting to blend together to one giant mush of insanity, but he had to find a place to hide. 

A place Patton wouldn’t look for him, as he already heart the steps of the emotional trait coming closer towards him, causing Virgil’s heart to beat faster and to look around faster. He sprinted to a door and knocked frantically, aware that this door was always locked as this side didn’t tolerate unwanted visitors to disturb him. 

The door slowly opened and he saw the black and white eye of Logan staring at him. He wasn’t influenced from rainbow, so this was a good sign. He was way more understanding this way. „What is it Virgil? I’m busy.“ His voice sounded a little exhausted, maybe because he just came down from his high but his eyes quickly widened as Virgil choked out a sob. „Patton, he… Please, I have to hide! I don’t wanna play today!“

Logan’s head poked out, gazing down the hall, before he looked to the other side,continuing to pierce Virgil’s soul with his obersvant gaze, clearly contemplating if he should really help Virgil. But he opened the door completely and ushered the anxious trait inside, while looking around suspiciously and quickly shutting the door with a loud clicking sound,. Virgil was shaking as he looked around, the laboratory looking the same like it did in his memories, apart from a source of insanity on one of the operating tables, but it looked like Logan actually cleaned it up.

Logan shot Virgil a glance and said: „You know your place. Hurry up, I can hear Patton coming closer.“ Virgil flinched and quickly ran into the shadows, knowing the laboratory by heart as he found the table with plants on it and quickly dropped to his knees to crawl under it and hide from the emotional trait. This was far from the first time they did this, but it always felt like a new experience to Virgil, seeing Logan in his white lab-coat, probably a glass in his hand, his eyes either rainbow or insane.

But he always chose to help Virgil, no matter his current state, and the anxious trait was more than grateful for that. Heavy knocking on the door caused the anxious trait to flinch and his head to whip to the direction of the door, where Logan stood for a few seconds, stepping on one place to create the illusion that he wasn’t actually waiting for the emotional trait and was actually busy. He opened the door a creak again, but Patton actually crashed it open with his strong claws, snapping:

„WHERE IS VIRGIL?!“ Logan blinked, keeping his cool as he greeted: „Salutation’s Patton. How can I help you?“ Patton’s eye twitched in irritation, his smile as wide as ever as he continued: „Virgil, I’m looking for Virgil. I s he in here, he plays catch with me again.“ Virgil sighed, clawing at the wall next to the door for a moment, before he answered, irriation evident in the edges of his voice. „Patton, if Virgil would be in here, I would know. I’m busy, so if you would move along please?“ Technically, it wasn’t a lie. 

Logan DID know where Virgil was, he just didn’t indicate that Virgil came in his line of side today, which caused Patton to huff, contemplating if he should enter the laboratory and look for the anxious trait, but he didn’t, because he was afraid. The laboratory was one of the places Patton was actually afraif of, what makes it a great place for Virgil to hide. Patton huffed as he said: „All right, but tell me if you see him, alright?“ Virgil didn’t do anything and just shut the door in front of Patton’s face, both of them listeing to the sound of Patton’s steps creeping away. Virgil breathed a sigh of relief and ascended from the table as Logan told him to do so. 

He just saved him, he didn’t feel like being an ungrateful little shit. Logan strode towards him, checking his entire being before he cupped Virgils chin and lifted it up a bit, placing a claw on Virgil’s neck to move it carefully, the anxious trait shivering at the touch. „How did this happen?“ He asked with a soft voice as he traced the rope-burns on Virgil’s neck, entranced by the patterns burned on Virgil’s neck. „Too many suicides…“

He muttered, not telling Logan anything about the many scars on his entire body, a new scar joining with every suicide. Logan didn’t say anything, the fact, that Virgil didn’t wanna talk about this topic clear as day. So he simply offered. „Do you wish to assist me in my experiments?“ Virgil nodded, catching and putting on the lab-coat Logan threw at him, watching in awe as Logan rolled the table with plants into the light, staring in fascination. He hasn’t seen any of them before, their black leaves glistening in the dim light of the lamp on the ceiling, one of them already blooming with beautiful black flowers.

„Those are Tesla, Newton and Einstein.“ He pointed to each plant as he said their names. „Each of them produce plant’s of insanity, but they aren’t working properly. Tesla completely overflows it’s host with insanity, Einstein squeezes so hard the organs pop and Newton doesn’t close the body back up and just forms tentacles with his veins that lure out of the body. I’m close to finding the right recipe, so I’m crossing those plants to the ultimate plant of insanity.“

Virgil nodded along, getting everything Logan said but at the same time not really getting, why Logan would actually do this. It seemed like a waste of time to Virgil, but who was he to judge? Logan smiled slighty as he began to sing:

„They sent you a letter, to come back home to play, but to your dismay, this isn’t your day. For the happy fun time has begun to fade.“

Virgil had to smile, aware of the tradition they had. They always sing this song together. So Virgil continued:

“Watch as we reanimate the corpsed you abandoned, we’re dismantled.“

Logan continued: „We’re mishandled. But we won’t be skipped and swayed.“

They continued the song, dancing together in the cramped laboratory, grabbing each other and continuing the dance as partners, both of them actually smiling as they sung the song „Build our machine“, both of them thinking about the insanity-machine, where everything started. It made them nostalgic.

They twirled around, took each other’s hands and actually made some maneuvers as the music played in their heads, each of them enjoying the tradition they had together. Logan twirled Virgil around, before he hold him securely in place and kissed him deeply, Virgil closing his eyes to melt into the careful and kind gesture he received.

He enjoyed Logan, when he was like this, you almost wouldn’t believe that he was actually insane. They sung the last verse, just standing there, their bodies pressing against each other. Logan began:

„So you come to the end now, alive but dead inside.“  
Virgil continued: „The heart beats loud.“  
Logan answered: „You’ve joined our crowd.“  
Virgil added: „We are but punished serpentines.“

Logan smiled, showing his fangs slightly as he continued: „Your life with him was fun, but now the terror’s only just begun, now come with me.“  
Virgil added: „And you will see.“  
Logan ended: „We’re a new born CYANIDE!“ 

 

They made a final twirl and stopped the dance, smiling at each other, before Virgil asked the question Logan already predicted: „Add me to the rainbow please.“ Logan sighed, knowing this conversation by heart, but he asked anyway. „Why?“ Virgil shook his head, showing his hands that were stained with insanity: „I can’t wash this off, it’s way too much. I need to be reborn again. I won’t surrender to Insanity just yet.

So strap me to your table and add me to the rainbow or test those seeds on me, just please.“ He begged, looking at Logan with big teary eyes, who sighed and beckoned Virgil closer, already prepared to kill Virgil, just like he always was. „Follow me.“


	8. Just sleep, just dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings I can think of. If I missed something please tell me!

Sleep was aware of the fact that a walk around the mind-palace maybe not the best of his ideas was, but the problem is, that he simply didn't care enough to hide from the insane sides haunting this place for quite some time now. He died more than once. He was killed by Logan, Patton, Roman and even Virgil, even if it was an accident, but it was nontheless killed. 

Sleep also had the problem, that he remembered his deaths, not like the other sides. He remember how he exploded in Logan's laboratory or god covered in hot gold and dried to a statue at Romans place, and he remembered losing in a game from Patton and paying with his life in the process. The vision's didn't exactly haunt him during every step he made, he was actually quite comfortable with himself, the problem was just, that he tended to have nightmares now, which was more than unideal considering that he WAS in fact sleep, the side responsible for Thomas' sleeping schedule.

Nightmares weren't really helpful. But he simply couldn't help it, this haunting feeling he felt every time he left his room, afraid Roman or Patton were just behind the corner to take him and do something insane again. He shook himself silently, shuddering at the memories. Maybe he was haunted, but he simply didn't care enough to change his normal schedule to something else. It wasn't like he could change his fate anyway.

If the sides wanted him, they would get him, no matter where he hid, so he might as well don't change anything, you know, an indirect war-declaration towards Insanity, showing them that he wasn't quite ready to give his home and family up just yet. Maybe later, maybe he will abandon his ship later, but not now. Right now he was looking for someone else, and he wasn't sure where exactly he was since he always roamed around the mind-palace, before he finally spotted someon in a rainbow-shirt looking around the hallway, a paranoid look on his face.

„Jimbo! There you are, I was looking for you, my dude! How're ya holding up?“ Faith flinched for a moment at the unknown voice but quickly relaxed as he spotted sleep slugging towards him, a lazy smile on his face. „Heya, Sleep! I'm doing alright, just not in the mood to talk to Patton or Roman right now.“ Faith, on the other hand, didn't remember the different deaths he, every time waking up with that dreading feeling that SOMETHING happened, but not quite sure what exactly it was, every try to remember just ending in headaches he really didn't want to have. 

Sleep rolled with his eyes as he answered to the little trait: „Me too, little bud. I'm really not feeling like handling with Sir Hurt-A-Lot and Mr. Jigsaw right now.“ Faith actually giggled at the nick-names and nodded slightly, a melancholic look on his face. „I know they are still in there. I just know it!“ Sleep's gaze dropped to the ground as he bit his lip, knowing just too well this feeling of hope, that maybe they could beat the insanity on their own and return even stronger than before, but finding himself losing hope over time.

With every death died the light of hope a little more down. He gave up right now, knowing that the other sides are too far gone to get out of it by themselves. Sleep just didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't really do anything, after all, he was just sleep, and he felt rather comfortable with just being sleep, just like Faith felt comfortable with being faith, the source of everything Thomas is supposed to believe in. But they didn't control any parts of the brain, they couldn't help the other sides, which was a little discouraging, but Sleep wouldn't allow the situation to wear him down.

„Say, buddy, if you don't wanna mess with 'em and I don't wanna meet 'em, how about we have some good ole bro-time together?“ Faith's whole face brightened up at the indication, practically jumping towards the rebellious trait who quickly encircled the little trait with his arms, grinning as Faith tried to stay put with putting his legs around Sleep's waist, laughing happily and nuzzling Sleep's chest. „Finally! I missed the time with you so much!“ The truth was, that they didn't have time to spent time with each other, because one of them was always dead, but Faith didn't need to know that. He was too pure for that and Sleep couldn't bring himself to tell him. 

break his little heart. And Sleep will not allow anyone to break Faith's heart. „Which room this time?“ Asked Faith, eyes big as he looked around. Sleep shrugged as he started walking, Faith still on his arm as he said: „My room, it's closer.“ Faith gave him a look as he exclaimed: „I'm right next door to you.“ „Exactly.“ Answered sleep with a grin, to which Faith giggled and nuzzled back into sleep, making himself comfortable. Sleeps room was really nothing special, for his image it actually seemed quite peaceful. 

There was a giant bed with pillows in every shape and size, a little wardrobe with everything he needed and white walls and a black ceiling, shining neon-stars on the ceiling, a mobile spinning just above the bed and playing a soothing melody. Faith loved Sleep's room, his bed was so soft you almost completely vanished in it and the stairs gave you the flair, that you were actually sleeping outside. Sleep clapped a bit with his hands as he put Faith down and exclaimed: „All right, get in your onesie, kiddo! You know the drill!“ Faith squealed in excitement, quickly hurrying to the wardrobe of sleep to pull his emergency-onesie out, giving Sleep his own onesie in the process. 

Both of them discared their clothes and put them on, grinning at each other. „Well, hey there Mr. Owl. How 'ya feeling tonight?“ Faith giggled and made really big eyes, standing perfectly still as he made a hooing sound and answered: „Quite well, Mr. Sloth. Thank you very much.“ Both of them hold their posture for a few more seconds, before they literally erupted in laughing, both supporting each other and falling to the ground in the process. Sleep patted Faith's head as he exclaimed: „Alright, Jimbob, hop into bed. We don't have all night.“

Faith nodded and jumped into the bed, burying himself in the covers and snuggling himself in, making himself as comfortable as possible, while the rebellious trait locked the door in one swift motion and then announced: „Coming in!“ As he sprinted and jumped into bed, the little trait squealing in delight as he flew a feet in the air and got caught by Sleep, both looking at each other, before giving each other a kiss on the forehead.

„I love you, big brother.“ Said Faith with shining eyes, as he laid down, looking expectantly at Sleep, who had a peaceful and loving look on his face as he answered: „I love you too, little buddy.“ He layed down next to sleep and encirled him with his arms, pulling the little trait towards him and clutching him like a plushy, Faith quite comfortable in his position as he curled up against sleep, nuzzling him sleepily as he yawned and quickly sunk away in the realm of dreams.

Sleep clutched him even tighter as he heard light snoring and whispered: „I love you so much.“ And closed his eyes, finally finding a peaceful sleep with Faith right next to him, without any nightmares haunting him. No, just the comforting warmth of love with the music of the mobile and the shining of the stars. And for once, the world wasn't so bad anymore.


	9. How Virgil joined the family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there are no warnings, but there will be one-sided prinxiety and it is kinda sad. But tell me if I missed a warning!

„Almost there…“ Whispered Virgil to himself, stress dripping from his words as he put the self-made lockpick into the slim shi, putting with his thumb pressure onto the whole thing. After Patton caught him in his ‘game’ of hide and seek, honestly, Virgil was scared to the core during the whole process, he locked him in Patton’s room, chained to the bed to wait for the emotional trait to return, but Virgil was having none of that! 

He grabbed a coat hanger, that was abandoned on the bed and twisted and bend it, until it resembled a lockpick. He tried it for ten minutes now, but he wasn’t used to picking locks, when he had his hands literally tied to his back and wasn’t able to see the progess he made. But he had to act fast, he couldn’t wait for Patton to return, he had to fid the source of insanity, destroy it and free Patton and Logan from it’s corruption, and quick! Every second he wasted with not destroying it Logan and Patton lost themselves a little bit more, so he couldn’t play around. „Come on, come on, COME ON!“ 

His eyes widened as he heard a little click, the handcuffs falling with a little thud to the ground. Virgil cheered inwardly as he scrambled to his feet and left Patton’s room, looking around in distress. Where could the source hide? Did Logan build another machine, that corrupted them? No, that would be way to easy, insanity isn’t that predictable. He might need help.

So he sprinted down the hallway, looking for any indication of insanity, trying to find the souce while running, stress instead of blood pumping through his veins. He wouldn’t go into Logan’s laboratory, at least not alone, for he didn’t want to be added to the rainbow. Now, that he thought about it… Logan, as well as Patton, were insane for a while now, they just didn’t show it too much. He should have suspected something as Logan built the same machine over and over and expected them to work differently and how Patton ripped the wings out of flies and made a picture out of them.

He should have known, he should have seen it! HE was anxiety, it was his responsibility to see this kind of thing, but he didn’t! He wiped at his eyes and all the air left his lungs as he ran into someone, the anxious trait falling to the ground and quickly apoligizing as he saw who it was. „Roman! Sorry, but no time for bickering! Logan and Patton are corrupted with insanity and we need to-“ Roman’s voice startled Virgil as he interrupted him, his tone just a little too calm and low: „Calm down Virgil, you are shaking. Why don’t you just take a breather for a minute and then come with me?”

Virgil’s eyes darted upward, the small light of hope evaporating at the moment he spotted Roman, with his black and red eyes, the stained sash and the snake-tongue darting out as he hissed, a bright smile on his face. Virgil choked on a sob as he teared up, trying to supress them but failing as two of them rolled down his cheeks, his voice meek, always not there as he whispered: „No… Not you too…“Virgil scramlbed to his feet and ran in the opposite direction, Roman’s howling laughter haunting his very being. 

Virgil covered his ears with his hands, tears flowing like waterfalls as the realization finally kicked in. Roman, his Roman, was corrupted as well. He came to a screeching halt as he reached his room, ripping the door open and jumping inside, shutting and locking it in one swift motion, before he slid down the door, hiding his face in his knees and sobbing violently, whole body shaking with the waves of emotions rocking through him, the anxietys crashing onto him like a wave with the goal to erase his entire being. 

He failed, he failed to save his friends, his family, his love. He completely and utterly failed. It was his job to keep the insanity at bay, or at least recognize it in time, but he failed! He didn’t recognize it, because he thought everything was fine after they destroyed the insanity-machine! Virgil was overwhelmed, everything was simply too much for him right now. He stood on shaking legs, wandering towards his closet and opened it, staring at the gifts he prepared for his family. He made them by hand instead of just spawning them, to give them a more personal note.

He stared at the model of the solar-system he made for Logan, the cookies in a jar for Patton and the bouquet of flowers he picked for Roman, ready to tell him, that he maybe wanted to be more than just family with him. Virgil was tearing up once again, throwing the bouquet against the wall, all the petals flying in different direction’s, covering the black ground with the seven colours of the rainbow, while the bouquet itself fell to the ground with a quiet thud. „It doesn’t matter now… Nothing matters.“ Sobbed Virgil, closing his closet and sitting on his bed, hiding his face in his hands as he cried, ruining his make-up in the process, but he couldn’t care less about that right now. 

He cried and cried and cried, until he was out of tears and even then he continued crying, wetting his hands and the covers of the bed and he still continued crying until he had nothing left inside of him, Virgil just sitting on the bed with an empty gaze towards the ground. „Hey.“ The quiet voice didn’t startle Virgil in the slightest, he already knew they were there, so he simply answered: „Hey.“ Insanity was nothing new to Virgil, he could normally detect it rather easily, he simply didn’t recognize it in Patton and Logan. Insanity was sitting on the windowshill, dangling with their legs while also looking at the ground, just like Virgil did.

Virgil took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice steady as he said with a monotone tone. „I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to answer it as honest as possible.“ Insanity took a deep breath, before they looked at Virgil and exclaimed: „VirGIl, I’m fAr FrOm beInG a StrAngEr tO yOu.“ He looked up, eyes completely dried out and eyeshadow smeared over his cheeks as he pleaded: Please. Just answer this question.“ Insanity shrugged and swatted the air with one hand, indicating to ask whatever Virgil wanted to ask them.

„Why us? Why my family?“ Insanity’s mimic and demeaner changed, they were much more enthusiastic, ready to explain why, indeed, Thomas Sanders. „bEcAUsE yOU gUys ArE IntErEstIng! yOU wErE ExcItIng! DiffErEnt! LOgAn mIght bE my fAvOUrItE. It’s jUst tOO amUsIng to SEE them BREAK, yOU knOw?!“ Virgil felt himself tearing up again as he snapped, voice rising in volume as he screamed at Insanity: „BUT WHY MY FAMILY?!“ Virgil loved them, all of them, and now they were gone, he lost them in the endless stream of insanity, lost their personality, lost their memories with them, lost their family-activities, and most importantly, lost his feeling to belong, to be loved. 

He felt no love whatsoever from the insane sides, the feeling of loneliness spreading like a flower inside of him, the tears flowing again. He sobbed as he continued, hiccuping in his sentence as new tears fell:

„I- I just… wanted to- wanted to belong! I-I felt loved with them! They loved me! And- And I loved them! And you… YOU RUINED IT! ALL OF IT!“ Memories flooded his mind, as the other sides started to accept and understand him, the bickering with Roman, the rap-battle, the secret santa, the christmas carol, memories he lost to the insanity, memories he will never get back and never relive again. Insanity raised an invisible eyebrow and gave him a look, asking with a low voice: „WhAt wOUld yOU gIvE tO gEt thEm bAck?“

„Everything.“ Sobbed Virgil without any hesitation, looking Insanity right int he white eyes as he exclaimed: „I would give anything, to get them back, no matter what. I don’t care. I just want them back.“ Insanity’s eyes got smaller, like they were laughing as they stretched their claw out, exclaiming: „yOU knOw thErE Is A wAy fOr yOU tO bE OnE Of thEm AgAIN. TO bElOnG AgAIn.“

Virgil looked at the claw, many thoughts racing through his mind, telling him to swat the hand away and refuse, to still try and save them, that there was still time, but his sad little heart just longed the hugs Patton gave, the discussions he could do with Logan, as well as the chess games, and the disney-marathon’s with Roman, who he still wanted to tell his feelings, but was unable to in that state.

He sealed his eyes shut as he sobbed one final time and took the claw Insanity offered him, already feeling the black sludge crawling his arms up like vines, only one though crossing Virgil’s mind as realisation finally settled in. He was their last hope to save them, and he failed. He gave up and succumbed himself to the insanity, because he was lonely! He failed once more!

What have I done?


	10. Pinata

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for gore and violence in this chapter.

Patton was clearly in a bad mood, and everyone could see it, so everyone did what was best, when Patton was in a bad mood, which was avoiding him. That was clearly the best decision if someone wanted to spare themselves a painful death, which everyone wanted, so they avoided Patton.

Logan was in his laboratory, Roman played ‘Cinderella’ with Faith and Sleep and everyone else hid in their rooms, away from the emotional trait, who was pacing in the living room, glaring at everything and everyone crossing his path, snarling insults and incoherent murmuring at everything in his line of sight. Everything but someone, who was lurking in the shadows, observing Patton for quite some time now, before he decided to make an impact:

„Aww, what ssssseemsss to be the problem, Patton, hmmm?“ Patton narrowed his eyes, glaring at the villainous trait, that was crawling out of the shadows like a spider, on arms and legs, hissing at him as he snarled: „Shut your mouth, Deceit! I don’t need any stupid comments, right now!!“ Deceit tilted his head a little too far, causing it to be upside down as he asked: „Aww, what got you in ssssuch a bad mood?“ Patton sighed, irritation etching in his voice as he sad down on the couch, the villainous trait crawling towards him and sitting like a frog on the backrest, grinning at Patton. 

„It’s just… So unfair, you know?!“ Lamented Patton, slamming his hand on the table and breaking it in the process while Deceit watched him in interest, his many eyes completely focused on Patton and the thing’s he was doing. „Logan made candy, you know? He even put rainbow in it! It would have been so delicious and I was so excited to eat some, but when I entered the kitchen….“ His gaze shifted to an unbridled rage as he remembered the scene in the kitchen „ROMAN WAS FEEDING EVERYTHING TO VIRGIL! He ate everything! Not a single piece was left for me!“ 

Deceit licked his lips, careful to not accidentally hit one of his eyes, as he heard the reason for Patton’s bad mood, a sly crin creeping on his face as he tilted his head so strong it was upside down again. „Aww, ssssso that'ssss why you’re ssssso grumpy today?“ Patton nodded, still an angry look on his face, while at the same time being totally unimpressed with Deceit’s show. He was used to it by now. Sure, they freaked out at first as they spotted his many eyes and his insane flexibility, using it to walk like a spider and turn and tilt his head like a marionette, but now it didn’t exactly impress the emotional trait.

„So, if you know what to do about this, then tell me!“ Deceit snickered slighty, turning his head 360 degrees, before answering: „Virgil issss in hisss room. I’m sssure you can… convinceee him to share withhh you!“ He pulled a baseball bat out of his coat and handed it to Patton, smiling widely at him, just like Patton was forced to smile the whole time.

The emotional trait looked at the bat, a brooding shimmering in his eyes until they lighted up, an idea forming in his head as he stood up, nodding to Deceit, thanking him and hurrying up the stairs to find Virgil in his room. Deceit waited for a few more seconds if he heard some noise, before he crawled down the couch and back into the shadows where he belonged, ready to spread some more rascal and celebrate a bit for a job well done. He crawled through the shadows until he reaches the kitched, his many eyes spotting the fridge immediatly.

He opened it and pulled a bottle out of it, reading the lable as „Faith“, to which he smiled, getting a glass out of one of the cupboars and pour himself some of the red liquid in, taking a sip, allowing the taste to spread in his mouth, before his eyes widened at the taste, quickly emptying the glass in one chuck and pouring himself in again. Meanwhile reached Patton finally Virgil’s room, doubts settling in, thinking about actually bursting through the door and blame Virgil for eating all the candy. Should he really do this? It was Roman who fed Virgil all the candy, but it was the anxious trait who had all the candy now, so it was fine.

Patton knocked, frowning as he heard no response and kicked the door in, eyes widening in disbelief as he saw Virgil hanging from his ceiling, tongue sticking out and neck grotesquely broken, Patton almost dropping the bat at the sight, but instead he gripped it tightly, not allowing it to fall to the ground and leave him just yet. Patton wasn’t honestly shocked that Virgil was hanging from the ceiling yet again, he was indeed quite infected with the insanity, the black sludge far too much to be washed off by a simple shower, so he apparently chose the easiest solution, right next to finally surrendering and turn insane. 

He hanged himself, the chair was indeed right next to the hanging corpse, but Patton couldn’t feel sorry for the anxious trait, the memories of this day flooding his mind and remembering, that Virgil still had all the candy Patton wanted. They were inside of him, Roman fed them all to Virgil and Patton felt just so angry right now, as he hissed quietly: „It’s your fault, that I didn’t get any candy Logan made for ALL OF US.“ He stepped closer, swatting the air with his bat, as a cruel idea formed in his head, his smile only widening as he stepped closer, exclaiming:

„I think I found our game for today Virgil. Are you ready? Just keep doing what you’re doing, you’re doing it great.“ Patton striked out, eyes narrowing as he focused on the anxious trait… And swung the Bat, hitting the anxious trait at the chest, causing the corpse to swing out like a pendulum, Patton punching again and hitting Virgil’s abdomen, the emotional trait laughing as he continued to punch and bruise the corpse from the ceiling, exclaiming: „Pinatas are actually quite fun. We need to do this more often, Virgil.“

He hit the stomach of Virgil full force, causing the stomach to pop and candy to flow out of the hole Patton just created, loads of wrapped candy falling towards Patton, who squealed in joy as he realised, that the candy was wrapped, and Roman was preparing this surprise for him, just for him, to find Virgil like this and punch him like a pinata, so Patton could find the candy. He looked at Virgil with his opened stomach and bend neck, suddenly not feeling sorry for him anymore. He found a strange enjoyment in this game and suddenly decided, that he wanted more. 

The candy was delicious, yes, but the game to get it was far more enjoyable and he decided, that they would play this game more often. Maybe Virgil hid more stuff in his body? Patton grabbed the bat, grinning at Virgil and laughing: „SHOW ME YOUR SURPRISE!“ As he continued to batter Virgil with full force, until no bone in his body was whole anymore.


	11. The real you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of murder in this chapter, analogical if someone is interested. If I missed something please tell me!

A quick knock on the door startled Logan slightly, the logical trait casting a glange towards his door, comtemplating if he should open it or not. On one hand, it could just be someone to knock for the sake of annoying him, disrupting him in his work and probably ruin an important experiment he was having right now, but on the other hand…

It might be Virgil, knocking on his door as a last resort, scared out of his mind because of something Patton or Roman want to do to him. He always knocked on Logan’s door, when Virgil was scared out of his mind and needed comfort… And Logan always opened the door for him. And they would do experiments together, singing the song ‘build our machine’ and Virgil would even laugh at Logan, when he had a good time. Logan simply cannot ignore this knocking, just because of the possibility of Virgil standing on the other side, begging him to be let in. They really needed a special knocking pattern for this.

Logan opened the door a little bit and peeked outside, spotting Virgil with a surprisingly serious look on his face. „Logan, let me in.“ His voice wasn’t wavering, how very unusal for Virgil. Normally he was panting, begging the logical trait to let him in, to hide him away, so Patton or Roman would never find him, and Logan always did so, to help Virgil, to show that he, despite everything, cared for Virgil and wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible, until he decided to turn completely insane, just like everyone else. 

Logan opened the door and allowed Virgil to slid inside, before the logical trait banged the door shut again and shot Virgil a quick glance, exclaiming rather uninterested: „You know where to hide, the table is at it’s usual place.“ Virgil shook his head slightly, barely recognizable, as he watched Logan putting on gloves, eyes slighty widening, because he never saw Logan covering any of the insanity, that was corrupting him. The logical trait glanced in Virgil’s direction again, surprised, that he was still standing there and looked rather sheepishly as he exclaimed: „I… thought it would corrupt you less if we dance together again, so you… don’t have to die after the progress we make in my studys…“

Virgil bit his lip slightly, before he took a deep breath and decided, that it was now or never and he needed to talk right now. „I need to talk to Logan.“ Exclaimed Virgil, glaring at the logical trait in a serious way, who looked seriously confused back. „Virgil, are you hallucinating again? You are in my laboratory and I am indeed Logan-“ „NO!“ Logan actually flinched at the intesity of Virgil’s voice, taking a step back as Virgil walked towards him: „I need to talk to Logan. To you, but the REAL you! You are not Logan anymore, but merely a slave of the rainbow, and Insanity made you that way!“ Logan bumped against the wall, staring in shock at the anxious trait who grabbed him by the gloved hands and squeezed them tenderly.

„Logan, this isn’t YOU! Look around! Look at everything you did! I know you always say that you don’t have feelings, but you are no machine and you always do what’s best for anyone. You would NEVER kill anyone! I know, if I can talk to someone here it’s you, because you’re still IN THERE. You help me, when I need to hide and you even have the mercy to give me a quick death if I ask for it, because that’s what YOU would do. But the Logan I know would never surrender to insanity without picking up a fight!“

Logan’s eye twitched as he tried to pull his hands back, but Virgil only squeezed them tighter, looking Logan directly in the eye. „I know you can still think on your own if you’re not on rainbow. I know you’re still YOU! Patton and Roman are gone, I can’t help them right now but maybe I can save YOU! Logan, please…“ Logan’s eyes widened even more as Virgil started tearing up, the tears being white instead of black, which Logan only experienced once on…. himself, as he regretted killing his family to put them into a rainbow in a jar. „Stop it…“ Growled Logan, blinking rapidly to banish the negative memories in the back of his head. He didn’t need bad memories, they only clouded his mind and caused unwated feelings he didn’t need. 

„Logan, look at me.“ The logical trait didn’t even realise that he closed his eyes, quickly opening them again and flinching at the intense glare of Virgil. „I want to banish Insanity but I can’t do it alone. Sleep and Faith can help, but they are not strong enough. I NEED another main-side, and I know if anyone knows what’s best for Thomas, it’s you!“ Thomas, this name was familiar to Logan, who blinked slowly, gaze unfocusing as his mind was filled with clouded memories he just couldn’t quite reach. „Logan, we are a family, and I know that you still care about Patton, about Roman and… Even about me. And… I need you, Logan. I can’t go on alone… I need you to keep me grounded.“ Logan split his lip by biting on it too much, dark-blue liquid flowing freely as he stuttered: „Stop it… what… is this? What are these…. feelings?“

Logan pushed Virgil away, pacing around, his breathing quickening as everything began to spin slowly. Virgil didn’t come closer to him, seeing the symptoms Logan was currently in and continued talking. „Do you remember how you guys went into my room to tell me, that you needed me? You told me once, that I’m the only sane one. We were debating, and we had so much fun, that we continued to do it. We started playing chess, because it was so relaxing and a great occasion to talk to each other without unnecessary bickering. We enjoyed our time. I always stole the cookies Patton made, so we can eat them in your room. You know, the room you turned into a laboratory.

We ate cookies and read our favourite storys to each other, and we did it in this room.“ Logan felt himself tearing up, shreds of foggy memories, how things were supposed to be, he saw his bed, even though he destroyed it, he saw his shelf with his favourite books, even though he threw it out of the window and… He saw Virgil. With normal eyes and without rope-burn around his neck, he was actually smiling as he entered the room. „Hey Logan, I got the cookies, they’re with chocolate-chips and they are still warm. Wanna read a book and eat them?“ Logan smiled slightly, feeling himself tearing up, but ignoring it, as this illusion was far more pleasant than the reality. 

„I would love to, Virgil. Which book shall we read today.“ The actual Virgil choked back a sob as Logan said that with his clouded eyes, Virgil himself remembering their days together clear as day. Logan needed to remember, even if it just meant, that he became a little more human again, maybe got rid of at least some of the insanity. Virgil took a deep breath and started talking to Logan again. „I think it’s your turn to pick a book.“ Virgil observed Logan taking a breath, blinking tears away, a slight smile on his face as he took his gloves off and tossed them away, walking to the other end of his room, where his books used to stand.

He tried to grab a book, but only grabbed air, the logical trait blinking in confusion as he had nothing in his hand, the illusion he created himself slowly wavering, the logical trait tearing up and whipping around glaring at Virgil as he wiped white tears away. „You! Why did you made me see this things?! What are those unnecessary feelings?!“ Virgil still smiled, his white tears washing the insanity away as he explained: „To help you remember. You forgot everything, you were obsessed with nothing but the rainbow, but you remember now. And this feeling you feel. … You’re sentimental, maybe even melancholic, you wish those old times to return, and maybe they can, but I need your help for that.“ Virgil stretched his clean and pale hand out, offering Logan to take it, who took a step back like Virgil just pulled a weapon and pointed it at him. Logans eyes were wide as he stared at Virgil’s hand, memories he thought he lost starting to return to him, overwhelming him completely, the logical trait falling to the ground, starting to scream his lungs out as he started clawing at his eyes, Virgil’s eyes widening in shock as he saw what Logan was doing. 

„STOP IT! STOP THESE MEMORIES! I DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM! I’M HAPPY THIS WAY!“ Virgil didn’t wanna hear Logan’s insane talk, quickly reassuring him: „Insanity made you believe, that you are happy this way, but they corrupted you and made you purposefully addicted to a rainbow you made with killing us, but this isn’t you. Logan please, I need you, you need to return to me, but please, stop hurting yourself.“ Logan slowed only slightly down, Virgil seeing himself forced to handle, stepping forward and grabbing Logan’s claws, already feeling the insanity crawling up on him, but other things were more important right now.

Logan sobbed, opening his stained eyes slowly, his white tears running down his face and washing the insanity on his hands away. „V-Virgil…“ Coughed Logan, hugging the anxious trait around the neck as he mumbled, tears still. Falling and wetting Virgil’s jacket, but the anxious trait grabbed around him, sobbing just like Logan did, tearing up even more as he heard Logan talking: „I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry. What have I done?“ Virgil sobbed as he rubbed Logan’s back, rocking him slightly to the rhytm of the song they were always singing together, whispering:

„It’s ok, Logan, it’s okay. I forgive you. And the others will forgive you too, just PLEASE. Pretend in front of Insanity, that you are still insane, but shower a lot, to keep the insanity at bay and… and please help me to get rid of them…“ Logan did something that resembled nodding as he tried to regain his composure and think logically for the first time in forever, whispering softly but caring: „I promise.“

 

Little did they know about the creature with the many eyes that was at the ceiling, staring down at them with it’s dozen of eyes, grinning slightly as he heard every little word Virgil said to Logan and witnessing everything Logan did, the whole show for him not only quite amusing, but also really interesting. They were distracted, so Deceit crawled down the ceiling and wall like a spider, heading for the door and opening it just a slit, squeeezing outside and quickly heading away, to a place he could think on his own and was sure to not get disrupted by anyone, already quietly snickering to himself at the information he just received. He just had to think about handling this situation. 

Of course, Virgil still not succumbing to the insanity was already inacceptable, but that he also managed to get Logan was the cherry on top of the cake, that was dripping with insanity, just like all of Deceit’s eyes, finally opening the door of his own room and crawling inside, up the walls and stopped as he reached the ceiling, observing his direct environment to make sure no one was in here and listening to him, things Virgil and Logan should have done as well. Deceit couldn’t supress the laughter bubbling inside of him any longer, the villainous trait finally snapping, laughing like crazy at the new information he received. He felt powerful, for the first time in forever. 

He hid in the shadows like a parasite, when Insanity should be the creature hiding, but with the new things he just learned… He could be powerful, drive Insanity literally insane with teasing and maybe… just maybe… gain a bit more power, and being powerful enough to finally banish those sides, that were just a thorn in his many eyes. He hissed slightly, clearly satisfied with himself. He had a plan, he just needed to do everything right.


	12. A deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for gore, violence and vomiting in this one. If I missed anything tell me please.

Logan was walking through the hallways, thinking about the previous days he experienced in the mind-palace. Everything was pure chaos, every single side was acting unusual, Virgil didn’t come out of his room once, Logan even thought that the anxious trait already starved in there, yet another way of suicide that was completely new to the logical trait, guaranteed a way to die Virgil never chose, yet alone of the long way of waiting and suffering that goes along with it. 

Logan sighed, shaking his head slightly and looking around in the hallway before continuing his way, taking deep breaths as he tried to ground himself. He had to remember, to keep the conversation with Virgil in his memories. Virgil was right, it wasn’t like him to be enslaved by insanity and yet here he was corrupted to the core with no way of saving him. He will never be pure again, he honestly didn’t even know why Virgil came especially to him for help. 

Logan bit his lip, his fangs piercing his skin but causing no blood to flow as he thought about everything Virgil said, tilting his head in thought. The anxious trait was calmer than usual, he certainly wasn’t afraid to confront the logical trait, even though Logan killed Virgil just as many times as Patton and Roman did. Maybe even more times, and still trusted the anxious trait him. Logan simply couldn’t wrap his head around it, the whole situation being completely and utterly illogical to him. It just didn’t make any sense for Virgil to come to HIM for any help, since he was the first side getting corrupted AND drank his essence on multiple occasions.

Logan shook his head again, suddenly stopping as he heard a familiar voice speaking in a foreign language.

„Guten Tag.“

Logan narrowed his eyes, turning around and facing Deceit, hanging upside down from the ceiling while sitting on the ceiling like a frog. It would be impossible for the villainous trait to stay on the ceiling, but he could hold his position anyway, how nobody knew. Something was with his hands and feet, something the other sides didn’t have. Logan clicked with his tongue, smirking slightly as he answered: „Your german won’t cause any mercy to bloom inside of me. Points for effort though.“ Deceit grinned, showing his viper-teeth, while he tilted his head so far it was no longer upside-down but the way a head usually was when you were not hanging from the ceiling.

„Come on. Thhhrow me a bone here. I didn’t do anythhing wrong.“ Logan rolled slightly with his eyes as he countered: „That’s a lie.“ Logan didn’t bat an eye, even as all of the dozen eyes from Deceit were glaring directly at him, white pupils almost shining from the poison Deceit wanted to throw at him, while the villainous trait himself still maintained his smile. „Anyway, assss I wasss sssaying. I have a little deal for you… And I won’t be very happy if you wouldn’t acccept it.“ Logan scrunched his eyebrows together, continuing to glare at Deceit, even though the logical trait was never exactly sure at which eye to glare.

„What do you want?!“ Snarled Logan, sparks almost shooting out of his glasses. He was certainly not happy with the villainous trait, but his wrath would only be higher if he knew that he eavesdropped on Logan and Virgil talking to each other in the logical trait’s laboratory. „I sssuggest you to ssstay away from Virgil for thhhe time being. You are cooperating withhh ssssome rathhher… unwanted busssssinesss.“ Logan bared his teeth as he contered: „I don’t remember making my business your responsibility Deceit. And now shut your lying mouth and crawl away, I won’t talk to you anymore.“

This was certainly not what Deceit wanted to hear as Logan froze at the next words: „You got tenssssecondsss.“ The villainous trait began countin slowly, leaving Virgil enough time to run a little distance, plan’s already forming in his head but unable to start any of those as Logan suddenly heard: „FIVE, I LIED!“ Followed by maniac laughter looked Logan back, surprised to see Deceit crawling on the ceiling in an insane speed, jumping from said ceiling and landing boots first on Logan’s back, pinning him on the ground, but the logical trait was having none of that as he turned on the floor, leaving Deceat pinned down. Logan reeled back and punched the villainous trait right under the eye, Deceit hissing in pain as he snarled:

„Watch for thhhhe eye you hooligan!“ Deceit opened his mouth as far as a snake, revealing sharp little fangs and Logan could only scream as the villainous trait practically broke his back to bite into Logan’s shoulder, the logical trait completely forgetting that pinning Deceit down was almost useless. Deceit took advantage of Logan’s stunned shock as he turned yet again to pin the logical trait on the ground, only for Logan to ram his knee into the abdomen of Deceit, who groaned in pain, giving Logan enough time to kick him in the face and sending him flying back a few feet, the villainous trait landing painfully on his back, knocking the air out of him.

Logan snarled, his insane powers finally paying off as he dashed towards Deceit, made a high jump and landed with his feet on Deceits chest, a loud cracking audible next to the loud scream of the villainous trait, who howled in pain, trying to wriggle away, but the feeling of being trapped under Logan’s shoe settling in. Logan screeched in a too high tone for a normal human being as he used his claws to slash at Deceit, the villainous trait screaming even louder as Logan slashed through multiple eyes on his face, including his original right eye. All of them were leaking black liquid that wasn’t insanity, the gash on his face too big and to painful for him to open his eyes That was it. This took the cake. 

Attacking Deceit was one thing, but rendering his eyes useless was just too much! He was almost eighty percent eyes, he needed every single one of them. Deceit growled and screeched in anger, two new arms pushing Logan away who huffed in surprise, quickly landing on his feet to see what just stopped him from killing the villainous trait. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Deceit used his insanity to grew two more arms, the new limbs leaking with insanity, clearly not meant to stay for long. 

Logan wanted to start another attack, but the villainous trait sprinted towards him, ramming all of his four fists in Logan’s face, his nose cracking under the pressure and blood flowing down like a waterfall, the logical trait howling in pain as he was flying backwards. He tried to slow his fall with clawing on the walls, but he was too fast and flew down the stairs, crashing into the wall right next to the door, eyes drooping and unconsciousness spreading in his body, black slowly spreading in his eyesight. Logan smirked slighty, spitting some blood and insanity on the ground, smirking slightly as he saw Deceit crawling down the stairs, being significantly slower than usual, clearly in pain. 

He waited until Deceit was standing right in front of him, before he talked: „You won that one… but one wrong look towards Virgil and you’re dead meat.“ Deceit smiled widely, his unhurt eyes widening as he answered: „It'sssss a deal.“ Logan closed his eyes after that, finally going to sleep after a long time of torturing his mind for so long. He lost, but he certainly won’t leave it like that.

 

Virgil was glad he took that little trip inside of the library where all of Thomas’ memories were stored, the peace and quiet and happy memories certainly soothing the anxious trait in a way he didn’t experience in a long time. He especially watched the early childhood days of Thomas, where everyone was just a little worm living their merry life and the most recent memories before the corruption, where they made all of this videos together, the anxious trait tearing up once again just at the mere thought crossing his mind. 

He sniffled slighty, wiping his eyes and smiling at all the happy memories. If his plan worked, it could maybe return to the old days, it would be the same and Insanity would be nothing but a nightmare, just a bad memorie they tried to forget. Oh, if it was that easy. Virgil opened his door, surprised as he found it unlocked, remembering clearly that he did in fact lock the door. His door was locked all the time, so Patton wouldn’t come in to drag him to some of the murderous games he didn’t want to play. He peeked suspiciously inside, spotting a big chest on his purple rug, raising an eyebrow at the sight.

The anxious trait didn’t know how long this chest was standing there, but it was certainly for at least a few days, considering that Virgil took a few snacks and spent days int he library, just hiding and remembering everything. He read the little note attached to the chest and frowned deeply as he read the scribbly handwriting. 'A gift from me to you -Deceit“ Virgil was afraid to open it, not sure if he really should, but curiosity winning the best of him. He grabbed it and slowly opened the chest, the smell almost knocking all the air out of him as Virgil coughed, overwhelmed by the strong scent radiating from inside the chest.

Virgil peeked inside, heart stopping at the sight he saw. It was Logan, well, what remained of Logan. He was stuffed in this chest, being that it was much too small for him, and left there for at least a few days until he suffocated in the locked chest. His face was blue due to the lack of oxygen, his mouth opened but dried out, his flesh already rotting, cockroaches crawling inside and out of his body,digging through organs and skin.

They already chewed all the skin off of his left arm, the bone clearly visible next to the purple and blue flesh. Some flies through towards Virgil, who quickly swatted them away, eyes tearing up, not out of melancholy but of pure grief, suddenly realizing what he did with spending days in the library without returning. Logan had to be in his room for days. Maybe Virgil could have saved him. A cockroach was crawling out of Logan’s mouth and Virgil slammed a hand on his mouth, the feeling in his stomach too much as he threw up right next to the chest, everything spinning and robbing every little sense inside of him.

„I’m sorry, Logan. I’m so sorry.“ whimpered Virgil as he closed the chest, crying for a few hours over Logan’s rotting body, not care if he will return, but out of simple shock for losing him like that. And one of the worst parts was, that he didn’t knew if Logan would come back like he was, or already corrupted to the core. If it was the second possibility, he would have to get him back once again. But he would do it. For Logan. „I’m so sorry Logan…“


	13. Needle and Thread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for gore and violence in this one, though I'm not exactly sure...

He had to hide, he couldn't allow him to catch him again. His memories were fuzzy, but he always felt a shudder if he just saw the stained sash of the fanciful side, but once their eyes met, he always felt like drowning in red water, he just sank in those deep pools of red and was unable to get out, while at the same time freezing and shivering. Faith didn't know what it was, but Roman did something that triggered great fear in his entire being.

Today was not different. Faith wanted to get out and play a bit, maybe with Patton, but he wasn't too sure, since the fatherly trait was acting a little weird, but he didn't want to bother Sleep if he wanted to take a nap or just time for himself, so he just kinda wandered around on his own. It was a big mistake, like it always was, but Faith always forgot each and every death he experienced, so he never knew of the mistake he made yet again.

And, of course, he had to walk right into Roman, the prince of insanity himself, and of course would he directly look at Faith with that smirk on his face, that caused Faith's entire being to shut off and activate the emergency-panic-mode. He stared at Roman for a few seconds, before he turned around and ran off, and his panic caused his mind to reboot and to walk into his room and hide in his toy-chest. Faith wanted to punch himself so hard, that his fist would just disappear in his guts. He ran into his OWN room! He could never hide from Roman in here! He could already hear his steps creeping towards his door, followed by a soft... humming? 

Yes, Roman was definetly humming, and it caused Faith to shiver even more violently, especially as he heard his door opening, the tell-tale creaking giving it immediatly away. Now he couldn't change his hiding place, even if he wanted to! Roman was still humming, while he was obviously shuffling through his room,opening drawers and the closet, as he suddenly started singing slowly. He knew the song and yet caused it Faith to shiver even more, wrapping his arms around himself in a pathetic attempt to warm up, but failing miserably.

 

„Hush little baby, don't you cry. Papa's gonna sing you a lullaby.

Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.“

 

Shuffling was audible, Roman was rummaging through the closet to make sure, that Faith wasn't hiding under the dirty clothe's he didn't bring into the washroom. Faith curled in on himself, wishing he could become invisible right now and didn't waste his wish from the stargate he saw on a plate of pancakes, that he really wanted.

 

„If that mockingbird won't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a golden ring.

If that gold-ring turns to brass, Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass.“

 

He looked under the bed, a classic place to hide for a small person, but Faith would never hide there. He played enough hide and seek with Sleep to know, that this is one of the first places someone would ever look for you. It simply was a bad place to hide, except from when it's dark and your bed is big, but when does this situation ever apply?

 

„If that looking glass is broke, Papa's gonna buy you a velvet cloak.

And if that velvet cloth is coarse, Papa's gonna buy you a rocking horse.“

 

Seriously, why does Roman have to sing, it just makes him a million times creepier than he already is, and Faith was hardly afraif of anything. He just felt the goosebumps on his arms when the fanciful side comes into his line of side, but he just doesn't seem to remember anything bad happening. It is more like a suspicion, he knew something happened, but he couldn't tell what it was. And Faith wasn't sure if he even wanted to remember...

 

„If that rocking horse won't rock, Papa's gonna buy you a cuckoo-clock.

If that cuckoo-clock won't tick, Papa's gonna buy you a walking stick.“

 

He inched closer, Faith could feel it and it caused his heartbeat to quicken and his breath to sped up, the little trait starting to get woozy, as the oxygen in the chest got a little shallow. He couldn't come out yet, he could do it! He just had to hang on a little longer and maybe Roman would go away! He could go to sleep and cry in his arms and tell him how scared he was and Sleep will just hold him and reassure him, like he always does. The thought alone caused tears to form in Faith's eyes.

 

„And if that walking stick falls down.... You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town...“

 

A little clicking sound caused Faith to flinch and to open his eyes again as nothing happened. He looked around, but everything was dark, not even the little slit that allowed oxygen to come in was there anymore. Faith's eyes widened, panic starting to spread in his body and he tried to breath air that wasn't there. He could hear Roman's voice, the smug grin practically dripping from his voice: „Knock three times against the wood. That indicates that you give up and allow me to play with you. Your other option is to suffocate.“ That was the clicking! 

Roman placed a padlock on the chest! That why the chest was completely isolated now. Faith started wheezing, he had two options and he had to think fast before he lost conciousness, because Roman would definetly leave him in here and he definetly wasn't joking. He could either go with Roman to do something he plannned for him, not sure what it was and how painful it would be, or he could choose to painfully suffocate in his toy-chest and presumambly Sleep to find his rotting body.

Faith lifted a weak fist and knocked three times, the knocking timid but audible, as Roman immediatly opened the chest and heaved Faith out, grinning at him before declaring: „All right. Then let's play! I know the perfect experiment for you!“

 

They quickly reached Roman's room, the creartive trait having everything prepared he needed for his little experiment. Roman was humming again, a different melodie this time as he strapped Faith on the table, so he wouldn't squirm so much if he woke up during the process. He couldn't do that if Faith was awake, it would be too difficult, he needed to concentrate for this. His claw's were moving slow and calculated, every finger doing the task Roman gave him as he started to sing again, the ususal rhytm being bright and happy, but he sung slow. Still happy, but slow.

 

„London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down, my fair Lady.“

 

The song was about a bridge being build with different materials and always breaking down in the process. They tried sticks and stones, wood and clay, but the bridge only stood with iron and steel, which announced the end of the song, but Roman did it a little differently. He moved towards Faith, taking his blindfold off and staring at his glassy, opened eyes. When he was laying there, you almost wouldn't believe that he was still alive. He put the buttons in his left claw on his opened eyes and lifted the needle he held, singing siftly as he pierced the eye with the needle.

 

„Build it up with thread and needle, thread and needle, thread and needle, build it up with thread and needle, my fair Lady...“

 

A white liquid was flowing like tears and Logan wasn't really sure what it was, but he was almost finished, with the first button, he wouldn't stop now, even though the unconscious form of the small trait was kinda twitching and sometimes sighing, pain evident in his voice, but he cut the thread with his claw, a not preventing it from going back.

 

He continued singing, the second eye going much easier, considering that the needle was much sharper and he quickly finished his job, looking at the buttons with a satisfied glance, but frowning as something was simply missing. He thought of Patton, an idea forming in his head as he prepared another needle and thread for his third try. The mouth was hard to do, since the lines were so much different, but he managed to sew his mouth shut, until the child wouldn't be able to open it again, Roman quietly singing the last verse of his little song, happy with his experiment 'Coraline' being successful:

Faith, the puppet comes to life, comes to life, comes to life. Faith, the puppet comes to life, my fair lady.“

 

It was all part of his plan. Roman went away, maybe to tease sleep about the thing he did to the poor little child, maybe to prepare his next experiment, he really wanted to play 'Cinderella' with someone, but it was hard to find enough sides to play all the roles. If he doesn't find enough he might just chop the toe of someone off and see how strong it will bleed. This should be... interesting to say the least. But Deceit had no time to think about this too much. He didn't know how long Roman would be away and he had to act quick. He always loomed above them, hanging on the ceiling and staring down at them with his many eyes, all of them just staring at his target and the progress, that was made. 

But now it was time for him to act. He let go of the ceiling, landing safely on his feet on the ground, examining the unconscious boy for a short time. Blood was dripping from his eyes, flowing like tears down, his skin like porcellain, his sewed lips gleaming slightly in the dimmed light, his hair messy and the button's making him look like a little marionette. Like the ones he himself used to make, but where was the fun in controlling puppets? He wanted more. He wanted real power. And this boy here was part of his plan. He removed the straps and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder, his smile painfully wide and his pupils blown wide open as he thought about future events. Everything would be chaos, and in the chaos would reign one, and that would be him.


	14. Guts and Glory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence, blood and body horror in this chapter. If I missed anything tell me please

Everything was simply too easy, Deceit was almost disappointed that there wasn’t any threat following him and trying to prevent him from achieving his goals, but that was just how it was. Roman was too wrapped up to notice anything but his failed or suceeded experiments, Patton just wants to play and Virgil was dead most of the time. Logan was the only one he would even remotely consider a worthy opponent, but he killed him the last time and left him as a nice present for Virgil. 

Deceit knew that the anxious trait immediatly killed himself after he found his little present, the villainous trait being at his ceiling the whole time and seeing the whole scene with his many eyes. He was actually lucky that the anxious trait didn’t hang himself or he would have been spotted, but luckily was no one ever looking up at the ceiling and seeing the being watching them from the shadows, his many eyes glowing in the darkness Even now he was crawling on the ceiling, keeping a few eyes on Virgil, as the anxious trait was obviously resisting the insanity better than Deceit expected, even so far as he was able to get Logan at least slightly back, and Deceit wouldn’t allow this.

Not anymore. Even though he highly doubted that Roman or Patton would even listen to the little anxious baby. It was almost too easy. Virgil was entering the living room, Deceit right after him as he started to crawl down the walls, directly heading for Virgil as the anxious trait didn’t notice him just yet.

He was completely silent, his hands nor feet making any sound as he was directly behind Virgil, standing on his feet and reeling out to grab the anxious trait and whisk him away without anyone noticing, but this plan failed as something slammed into his side and knocked him to the ground, while at the same time causing the air to flee out of his lungs, the villainous trait wheezing slightly as he opened his eyes and spotted Logan pinning him down with his arms on his and his knees on his stomach. 

He looked murderous, the black eyes gleaming with fury and his teeth bared, revealing his sharp fangs as he hissed: „What did I tell you about doing anything to Virgil?!“ The anxious trait was stunned as he heard Logan say those words and realized that he actually might have saved Virgil from whatever Deceit was going to do to him. But he was also a little afraid of what might happen next. Deceit smirked slightly and answered sheepishly: „I dont know what you’re talking about.“ Logan growled, grabbing Deceit by the collar, lifting his head slightly and slamming it down on the ground, the villainous trait wincing and groaning in pain.

„We had a deal!“ Deceit hissed as he answered: „I lied, what did you expect?!“ Logan snarled again and slammed Deceit’s head down again, the villainous trait feeling blood trickling down his neck and cursing in german under his breath, while grabbing Logan with his new free’d hands and hurling him backwards, the logical trait flying a few feet through the room and he would have crashed against the wall, if he wouldn’t have landed on it like a spider, quickly crawling down and standing up again once he was on the floor, jangling and showing his fangs once more, the villainous trait raising his eyebrows as he saw that, whistling slightly.

„Colour me impressed, Logan. Not bad.“ Virgil hid under the table, trembling only intensifying as he saw Logan crawling down the wall, afraid he was under the control of Insanity again, but the logical trait made no indication to approach Virgil in any way, his attention focused on Deceit who was sitting on the floor like a frog, grinning at Logan and ready to counter every attack Logan would throw at him. „You really thought I didn’t improve my powers after our last encounter? You’re surprisingly naive, Deceit.“ The villainous trait licked his lips, grinning up at Logan as he responded: „I expected nothing else from you, Logan.

I would have been disappointed with anything else.“ Logan hissed as he dashed forward and jumped, Deceit immediatly standing up, ready to grab Logan mid-air and ram him against the wall behind him, but Logan surprised him yet again as two new arms, made out of insanity, shot out and grabbed Deceits arms, the two claws of Logan punching full force into the center of Deceit’s face, the villainous trait yelling as he felt his nose break and blood to flow freely down his face, the trait not hesitating one moment and dashing forward, biting Logan at the same spot he got him last time, causing Logan to yell in pain and dismay and to let Deceit go, who immediatly tackled the logical trait and pinned him down, punching and clawing and biting mercilessly Logan’s face, who yelled out of fury and rammed his kneed in Deceits abdomen, the villainous immediatly stopping at the pain, giving Logan enough time to hurl his right arm back and punch him against the left cheek, right under the original eye, Deceit falling sideways and rubbing the eye right under his original eye Logan hit, pain rocking his entire being, but he wouldn’t give up just yet.

Logan was just as bruised as Deceit was and the fight wasn’t over just yet. Logan reeled back to punch Deceit, but he expected it, grabbing Logan’s wrist with both hands mid-punch, twisting the skin to get a better grip on him and throw him over his shoulder, the logical trait yelping in surprise as he wasn’t expecting that and landed on his back, groaning in pain, but quickly rolling to the side as he saw the boot from Deceit just above him, ready to stomp down on Logan’s face and leave some more bruises. Logan grabbed Deceit’s ankle with all four arms and pulled, the villainous trait falling backwards. 

Deceit rolled on his stomach and wanted to get up, but Logan pinned him once again with his knees on the ground, the logical trait lifting Deceit“s head by the hair, glaring him down. Deceit writhed, squirmed and wiggled, but there was no chance of escape, so he just smiled and announced: „You won this one, Logan.“ The logical trait growled as he answered:“ I will never lose to you again!“ And then slammed Deceits head down, immediatly lifting him up and slamming him down once again, the logical trait continuing this pattern until he heard the cracking of bones and Deceit went limb under him, his face barely recognizable and all eyes either closed or incredibly bruised.

Logan was certain that Deceit lost at least one eye in the battle, but Logan wasn’t too certain where it landed and if it was only one eye. Logan stood up, leaving the battered mess that was Deceit once on the floor and walked towards the table, kneeling down and spotting Virgil, his gaze shocked at first but quickly softening as he saw just who won this fight. „You’re not hurt, are you?“ Asked Logan, quickly helping the anxious trait up, who immediatly hugged him around the neck, so he wouldn’t get too stained with insanity. „Thank you, Logan. Thank you for saving me.“ Sniffled Virgil, not sure how everything would have ended if Deceit had won this fight. Logan didn’t hug back, for he knew that his claws were stained with insanity and he didn’t want Virgil to kill himself again just yet. „It’s no problem Virgil… I will look out for you.“

 

 

It was dark, he didn’t know where he was, but he wouldn’t stay trapped in this room forever. He would escape, and no one would stop him from doing so. He scratched at the wood, not even wincing at the pain. He already lost a fingernail, but it was worth it.

He almost scratched through the entire door, he could feel it, he was almost finished. His hands were blody from the splinters and the second nail he just lost, but it would be worth it. He could get away. He was trapped in here for days and he simply wouldn’t die, mainly because whoever was keeping him prisoner fed him and gave him water. A little shimmer of light through a little hole in the door caused his motivation to flare up again, scratching violently against the door, the little hole getting bigger and bigger by the second.

Once it was big enough, he made sure it was so he wouldn’t get stuch mid-way, he squeezed himself out of the dark room he was trapped in, looking around but blinking confused, his vision strongly handicapped as he could almost see nothing, but quickly stumbling forward, looking for the room that belonged to him. As he finally found the right door, he practically hurled it open and slammed it shut behind him, stumbling towards the mirror in the corner of his room. The moment he saw himself, Faith wanted to scream, but he couldn’t as his mouth was completely sewed shut with thick black thread.

The reason he couldn’t see like he was used to was not only because of the darkness in the room, but also because black buttons were on his eyes, sewed onto his face and they were apparently the only way his eyes were still functioning, even though it was impossible that he could see at all. But the moment he would try to get rid of the buttons the thread would damage his eyes and he could possibly go blind, a risk Faith didn’t want to take. What did they do to him?! He would never be able to get to his old self again! A noise of pain escaped Faith’s throat as he was falling backwards, scared of his reflexion, wanmting to cry but feeling himself unable to do so. Why did they do this to him, what did he ever do to deserve this?! 

Faith stared at his bloodied hands, the pain of the splinters slowly starting to reach him, so he grbbaed the toy-scissors he had in his room and started to pull them out as long as he was still numb from the pain. Once his hand was splinter-free he shook them slowly out, blood dripping onto his bed, but the young trait simply didn’t care,. How could he do his job if he was like this? He was a monster, he was just like the other insane traits, and he would never be able to be his normal self ever again. Insanity was slowly dripping from his eyes as the last bit of hope left his body. He would never be the same again, so he might as well just become what they wanted him to be.


	15. Faith in you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for blood and violence in this chapter, if anything more, than please tell me.

Everything was strange, but that were no news for him. Creepy cookies were crawling on the ceiling, strange games were played, Disney showed it’s darkest sides the rainbow was the highest of emotions. Sleep has seen everything, and honestly? He wasn’t too shocked anymore.   
He was never particularly shocked to begin with it, he simply didn’t care enough about his life to shield it from the insane sides, the knowledge of reincarnation helping him on that matter. He knew he couldn’t hide and he knew that he would die and die and die, until the other sides eventually grow tired of him, since he was sleep, or his old friends would be magically cured of the parasite, that was Insanity. But both of those things weren’t going to happen. 

They would kidnap, torture and kill him, again and again and there was no way he could free himself, since he was connected to Thomas and couldn’t just leave like he would like. But at least he wasn’t alone. He would have probably given up by now, but at least he had still Faith. The little guy was just a ball of laughter and sunshine and he never failed to cheer Sleep up.  
 The meer thought of the days they spent together in the chaos put a smile on Sleeps face and he took a deep breath to keep those positive emotions a little while longer in his body. Today was another day he wanted to spend with Faith, he had everything prepared in his room. His gigantic bed was filled with cushions and as soft and fluffy as ever, the emergency-onesies were washed and ready to wear and he even prepared two Nintendo Ds so they could play Pokemon together if they woke up from their nap. 

He was actually pretty thrilled to finally start this day, even though it was already afternoon, and stopped in front of Faith’s door, knocking two times, waiting for a moment, then three times, before he waited again to knock one final time. It was their secret knocking that only they knew, to always indicate who was in front of the door. Both of them knew that the insane sides would find out sooner than later, but Sleep didn’t care enough to watch his back.

 But he still frowned as he heard no answer from the other end of the door. Faith would always wait for him and open the door once he heard the secret knock, so Sleep tried it again with their knock, pressing his ear against the wood and listening intently, frowning only intensifying as he still heard nothing. „Faith, buddy, you in there?“ He asked as he grabbed the knob, announcing: „I’m coming in.“ And opened the door, jaw dropping and eyes widening as he saw the room.  
 Everything was a literal pigsty, clothes were scattered on the floor, pillows were ripped open, all the toys were anywhere but in the chest they were supposed to be, the radio was smashed, just like the mirror, which shards were glued to the wall, forming one word, that was painted on every wall in red paint. „ROMAN“. The name was everywhere on the walls, ceiling, window, no matter how you turned your head, you would always see the name of the creative trait, Sleep slowly backing up, out of the room.

 He closed the door and stood in the hallway for numerous minutes, before he took a deep breath and then breathed: „Faith.“ Before running down the hallway. He had to find him, he was still here somewhere, he couldn’t be that far off. The faithful trait was looking for Roman, so maybe he would be there? He stopped at the stained red door with the golden knob and knocked frantically, but no response was audible, causing Sleep to curse under his breath as he continued running. 

He only stopped at a little sound, immediatly turning around to the dark hallway the sounds were coming from. Sleep furrowed his brow in confusion, not aware of there being a hallway at all. Did another side create this hallway for something? He wasn’t aware of this hallway and it was probably a terrible idea, but it was his best bet, and it wasn’t like anything could REALLY happen to him.  
 After all, he died numerous times, he saw everything fate could throw at him, and therefore wasn’t really scared as he slowly walked towards the dark hallway, the sounds growing louder with each step. It sounded like stabbing. Forceful and quick stabbing. Stab. Stab stab. Stab stab stab. And always a little break after numerous stabs. He was getting close, he could see the dim light of a candle lightening the dead end of the hallway up and Sleep’s heart dropped. Faith was pinning Roman down and stabbed violently inside of his chest with some scissors. 

The floor was covered with blood and Sleep could only see the boots and legs of Roman, but he didn’t even flinch, an indication, that he was probably long dead, but Faith wasn’t satisfied with that and continued to stab the fanciful trait. „Faith?“ Asked Sleep in the darkness, a mistake as the faithful trait really reacted. He stop his stabbing and straightened up, listening intently for the souce of noise he was hearing. Should Sleep really raise his voice again? It probably would be pretty dumb to do that. He should back up and maybe hide in his room, and Sleep thought that a nap alone wouldn’t be too bad.   
He took a step back, the board under his feet creaking and giving his position away. Traiterous wood. Faith turned around, black buttons shimmering in the light and Sleep’s eyes widened as the faithful trait stood up and slowly walked towards him, not being intimidated by the darkness surrounding him, which was also strange, since Faith was always scared of the darkness. But oh god, what did Roman do to him?

 His mouth was sewed shut and buttons were in his eyes, his hands stained with blood, the scissors still in hand. Sleep should run. He should just turn around and run, but he wouldn’t give Roman or Faith the satisfaction of victory, of him being scared. He wouldn’t allow that. „Faith, buddy, come on. You don’t wanna do that, right?“ He tried it, raising his hands like Faith was an angry animal, even though Sleep wasn’t sure, that he could see him at all. Faith made a mad dash towards him and tackled him to the ground, reeling out and trying to stab Sleep, just like he did with Roman, but Sleep reached out and grabbed his wrist firmly with both hands, stopping the faithful trait in his tracks.   
„Come on, buddy. I know you don’t wanna do that, hm? I know you, Faith. We’re brothers, and I know you more than anyone else. You don’t wanna do that.“ Faith tried to free his hand, but Sleep kept his grip firm, staring straight at Faith and his shimmering buttons.

 „Who needs insanity, am I right?“ He let go of Faith’s wrist and cupped his face instead, smiling up at him. „No matter how you look or what happened to you, I will always be there. I will nap with you and I will help you eat and I will help you to live with everything. Come on, little bro.“ Faith’s hand trembled, tears rolling down his cheeks, before he hung his head in defeat and dropped the scissors next to Sleep, who smiled and reached up, hugging the faithful trait, whose shoulders were shaking from silent sobs.  
 „Come on, lil’ guy. Let’s take a nap, hm?“ Faith sniffled and nodded slightly, standing up and walking towards the end of the hallway. Sleep smiled slightly. He knew Faith wasn’t fully corrupted. He may have lost hope in the other sides and maybe even himself, but he would always believe in Sleep. But his big brother had something to do. Something he didn’t want to, but simply had to do. He grabbed the scissors and dashed forward, tackling Faith to the ground and before he could even start squirming was the scissor between his shoulder blades, Sleep immediatly pulling it out and stabbing again, and again and again and he only stopped once he was certain, that the faithful trait was definetly dead. 

He then turned him around and slowly cut the thread keeping his mouth together and freed his eyes from the buttons, finally closing them so Faith could get his rest. He would come back and he would be fine. He had his hope back, he would be fine. He looked upwards, grinning at the figure with the many eyes and stuck his tongue slightly out, before he snarked: „One point for me.“ And took Faith and carried him away from the bad memories.


	16. A game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mentions of cannibalism, death, mentions of death and weapons!

Virgil had it planned, perfectly planned, and yet, he didn’t want to enter the kitchen and talk to Patton. He was currently baking and Virgil knew that he should never eat the food Patton makes. It’s a big mistake. A mistake he only made once and never again. Virgil took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing thoughts. He already got Logan back. Logan, the first one to ever get corrupted by the insanity, who is now protecting him from Deceit. And Logan was strong, but they couldn’t defeat the insanity alone. They needed Patton or Roman to help them.

Logan was convinced that Roman and Patton were completely gone, nothing from their old selves remained untainted, innocent, they were just gone. But Virgil didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t believe it. Too many memories connected them, they couldn’t have forgotten everything. Everythng that happened couldn’t be pointless. Virgil entered the kitchen, observing Patton near the stove, cutting chunks of meat into little stripes. Virgil rerun his plan in his head again.

He knew how to approach Patton, how to talk to him without triggering something he didn’t want to trigger. He could do this. Virgil stood on the tips of his toes as he peeked over Patton’s shoulder and asked as nonchalant as possible: “Is that pork or beef?”

“Picani.” Answered Patton just as nonchalant and Virgil shuddered, supressing a noise of disgust as he quickly backed off, flinching as as Patton literally stabbed the counter, knife getting stuck in the wood. Patton turned around, wiping his bloodied fingers with a rag, sewed smile as wide as ever as he asked: “What gives me the honour, Virgil? You barely talk to me anymore. Playing games alone is no fun.”

Virgil took a deep breath, gaze getting serious. He knew how to do this, he would get Patton back. He had to. “That’s why I’m here actually. I want to play a game with you.” A sparkle was visible and Virgil knew that he had him now. Patton could never refuse a game. Just as Patton was about to accept, all happy and bouncy, Virgil raised his finger: “BUT! I make an important rule!” A challening smile graced Patton’s sewed lips as heleaned back against the counter and pulled the knife out, slowly starting to wipe the blood off as he arched an eyebrow and asked:

“And just what might that important rule be, Sugar Plum?” Virgil gulped, the way Patton’s yellow eyes glared into his sould really unnerving, but he wasn’t wavering. He stood his ground, glaring up at the moral trait as he said: “Here are my conditions: We play a game you can pick, but I will talk with you whenever I did something right. And you will listen to me, to every word I say, and you will consider everything I say. Deal?”

He held his hand out to Patton, observing the movements in his face, how he visibly thought about the conditions, even though he would accept nontheless. Patton couldn’t refuse a game. His grin became excited again as he stretched his claw out and took Virgil’s hand, insanity immediatly wrapping around Virgil’s fingers and causing him to shiver slightly. “It’s a deal. I already have the perfect game for us to play.” Patton didn’t let go as he tried to let Virgil out of the kitchen who made a noise of distress and pointed at the stove where a pot with boiling water rested: “Don’t you think you should turn this off?”

Patton shot the stove a quick glance before shrugging and claiming: “Leave it. Picani is going nowhere anymore.” Virgil shuddered once again, praying silently for Picani, that the bubbly therapist found a quick end, before he followed Patton up the stairs and into the moral traits room. He already prepared everything, Virgil couldn’t believe it. And he didn’t like the game Patton wanted to play at all. A low table was resting in the middle of the room, a gun with barrel sitting on top of the table. “Patton, no.” Began Virgil slowly. The chance of dying was way too high in this game, he couldn’t die so early, how was he supposed to get Patton back like this?! “You said I get to decide the game. Now sit down.”

Virgil screwed his eyes shut as he hurried inside of the room, sitting on his knees, hands in his lap as he stared at the dark wood of the table, trying not to look at Patton who walked agonizingly slow towards the table and sat down on the opposite end of Virgil. He grinned at the anxious trait before stating: “You first.” Virgil opened his mouth, trying to protest, to get them to do something else, but Patton already interrupted him: “When you win the first round you get to talk. Now do it.” Virgil grabbed the gun, spinning the barrel, also making sure that there was indeed one bullet inside, before putting it back in, slowly raising it towards his temple. His hand shook and his eyes were screwed shut as he pulled the trigger, immediatly slumping as he heard a harmless click.

“Patton, listen to me. This isn’t you.” Patton arched an eyebrow as he stated: “Give me the gun.” Virgil clenched his jaw as he glared at Patton: “You promised you would listen.” “I will, once I made my turn.” Virgil knew what Patton was trying to do and shook his head. “You will refuse to listen to me once it’s my turn again. I won’t play along with you this time. Listen to me!” Patton still had to smile, but it was visible in his eyes that he wasn’t happy at all. Still, he prompted Virgil to continue: “Patton… where are you? What happened to you? I don’t recognize you anymore… Are you still there Patton?”

The moral trait bit his lip as Virgil slowly slid the gun towards him, staring at it for a couple of seconds before grabbing it, spinning the barrel and holding it against his temple, laughing as he answered: “I was never gone in the first place Virgil! I am finally being myself!” He pulled the trigger, once again a harmless click audible before Patton slid the gun towards Virgil again. Virgil was tense, his muscles felt like stone as the gun was once again pointed at his temple, tension not leaving his body as he heard the click, not even sighing in slight relief. He just looke at Patton and continued: “Falsehood.”

Virgil’s tone made Patton actually flinch, eyes widening slightly. “The insanity makes you say that Patton, but I know that you can hear me. I know that you can fight it, just like I do. Just like Logan does.” Patton grabbed the gun Virgil slid towards him, lip trembling for a moment before he asked: “L-Logan too?” Virgil only nodded, knowing that it wasn’t his turn to talk and that Patton would get mad if he talked. Patton’s hand began trembling as he pulled the trigger, once again only a click audible. It was one bullet, one shot, but the chance of dying was still too high for Virgil’s liking. He grabbed the gun again and made it quick this time, putting the weapon down once it clicked. “Logan too. And we are bringing insanity down. I know you didn’t forget the memories we made together. Don’t you want to return to those memories? And maybe make some more?”

Patton’s eyes filled with tears, clear tears, no insanity, as he grabbed the gun, a clicking audible, before he responded with a shaking voice: “I- I do…” Virgil smiled softly at the sniffling Patton, grabbing the gun and holding it against his temple, exhaling deeply as yet another click was audible. “Come on Patton. I want my dad back.” He slid the gun towards Patton who picked it up, holding it against his temple, clear tears continuing to fall.

And Virgil’s eyes widened as he saw how Patton’s eyes cleared up, how the insanity retreated, even if it was just a bit. How Patton’s voice was so incredible soft, so gentle, as he whispered, brown eyes sparkling: “V-Virgil.” The anxious trait smiled at Virgil, before his eyes widened at he flinched violently as a loud bang echoed through the air and Patton fell to the side. Virgil made a strangled noise and jumped up, running around the table, tears falling freely as he took a look at Patton’s body.

“WHY! PATTON, WHYYY!” Screamed Virgil at the dead trait, falling to his knees and grabbing Patton’s hand, squeezing it tightly. He won the game, but he lost Patton yet again. Lost him to the dead and lost him to insanity. It will corrupt him again. And it will make sure that something like this never happens again… He won the game, but lost his dad in the end.


End file.
